Akiyoshido Cave, located in the city of Mine (Mi-neh), is Japan’s largest limestone cave with a total length of around about 9 kilometers. The Akiyoshido cave offers a great adventure to those make the journey out to visit it.
The cave is not something that you will find many tourists visiting, purely out of the fact that not many people know of it’s existence, but visiting the cave will certainly give you an experience that very few international tourists had the chance to visit.
The cave offers an easy and comfortable journey for all, with spacious caverns, paved paths and adequate lighting, even those who dislike confined spaces can still enjoy their time. Inside, there are many unique natural cave generations, such as terraces, waterfalls, streams, pools and other beautiful sights to see. While the normal walking path is perfectly fine, you can even take a slightly more adventurous and dangerous path for an additional 300JPY, doing so will give you an adventageous view of the cave from an elevated position, giving you a real sense for the scale of the cave.
The Akiyoshido cave is located in the Quasi National Park, which encompasses the Akiyoshido Plateau, which offers unique views of the surrounding terrain which is unseen anywhere else to this scale across Japan. This is because it is believed that the Plateau was originally under the ocean and based off fossils found in the area, was at one stage a coral reef of some sort. During the month of February, the terrain takes on a different appearance, as about 1000 local volunteers set certain parts of the area on fire to control weed and other plant pest growth, so if you visit in February and the start of March, and wonder why the area looks burned, that’s the reason.
While the cave itself is about 9 kilometers in length, the total area that you visit is only a mere 1km or so of that, as the save branches off into different parts where things get a lot more close quarters and uncomfrotable. However, as mentioned, the main area of the cave is pretty comfortable, albeit a little chilly from time to time. We do recommend you take a jacket at the very least.
Hours and Admission
- Hours: 8:30am-4:30pm
- 1200JPY (If you have a foreign passport, price will be 700JPY)
Accessing Akiyoshido Cave
The Akiyoshido Cave is located in the hills between the city of Mine and the city of Yamaguchi. As such, transport to this area is limited. But there is a bus service that runs from Yamaguchi station, to the cave and can even be used with a JR Rail Pass (any of the following: Japan Rail Pass, JR Hiroshima Yamaguchi Area Pass, JR Okayama Hiroshima Yamaguchi Area Pass and the JR Sanyo Sanin Area Pass), these will cost no fee to get here. If you do not have any of the Jr rail passes, then you can expect to pay 1210JPY One way for a bus to the Akiyoshido Cave. Buses to the area can be infrequent at different times of the year, with the least buses going in the winter, where services are limited to weekends only.
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