Spots in Kumamoto

Each spot shows when its facts were last checked against official sources.

By prefecture:

HokkaidoHokkaido (60)

TohokuAomori (30)Iwate (30)Miyagi (40)Akita (30)Yamagata (30)Fukushima (30)

KantoIbaraki (30)Tochigi (30)Gunma (30)Tokyo (30)Kanagawa (30)

ChubuNiigata (30)Ishikawa (30)Yamanashi (30)Nagano (30)Gifu (30)Shizuoka (30)

KansaiMie (30)Kyoto (30)Osaka (30)Hyogo (30)Nara (30)Wakayama (30)

ChugokuHiroshima (30)

ShikokuKagawa (30)

Kyushu & OkinawaFukuoka (30)Nagasaki (30)Kumamoto (30)Oita (30)Okinawa (30)

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No photo yetAmakusa, KumamotoAmakusa Dolphin WatchingOne of Amakusa's most popular activities: meeting about 200 wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins living in the waters around Futae, Itsuwa. Dolphin watching is possible all year with a sighting rate of over 90%, and you can watch the pods swimming close enough to touch; the best season is spring to summer, and small children can enjoy it too.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoAso ShrineAn ancient shrine with over 2,000 years of history, the head shrine of about 500 Aso shrines across Japan. Its buildings were rebuilt from Tenpo 6 to Kaei 3 with donations from the Kumamoto domain, and six, including the main hall and the two-storey gate, are national Important Cultural Properties; the gate is the largest in Kyushu and counted among Japan's three great romon gates. Badly damaged in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, all restoration work, which took eight years, was completed in December 2024.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetYamaga, KumamotoBansho Rice TerracesTerraced rice fields in the Bansho district of Kikuka, known for red spider lilies and chosen as one of Japan's 100 best terraced fields. Around mid-September, when the lilies bloom, the yellow ears of rice and red flowers contrast; old houses and stone walls show a nostalgic Japanese countryside.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoDaikanboA peak of the northern outer rim of Aso, northeast of Uchinomaki Onsen, about 936 m high and about 400 m above the Aso Valley below. It is one of Aso's finest viewpoints, with a 360-degree panorama over the town, the five peaks of Aso and the Kuju mountains; early mornings from autumn to winter may bring a sea of clouds. There are souvenir shops and places to eat, and it is also popular for stargazing.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetYatsushiro, KumamotoGokanoshoA remote area of Yatsushiro surrounded by mountains of 1,300-1,700 m and deep gorges, where legend says defeated Heike warriors fled. The autumn-leaf season, when the forests and gorges turn colour, is a spectacular view, including around the suspension bridges and waterfalls; the best time is early to mid November.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetYamato, KumamotoGorogataki FallsOne of the largest of Yamato's many waterfalls. You can walk close to the basin to see it drop 50 m, and from the suspension bridge on the path you can see the whole fall, sometimes with a rainbow on fine days. Its name is said to come from a fall "shown" to the imperial envoy Karasumaru Dainagon.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetMisato, KumamotoJapan's Longest Stone Stairway (Shakain Misaka)Kumamoto's pride, Japan's longest stone stairway, with 3,333 steps, built on "Misaka", the main approach to Shakain temple, using famous stones from 10 places in Japan and granite from 7 countries. There are rest areas and toilets on the way, and the "Attack the Nippon-ichi" event is held every November.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetTakamori, KumamotoKamishikimi Kumanoimasu ShrineA shrine whose scenery, like "an entrance to another world", became a talking point on social media. 97 stone lanterns line the approach to the shrine, and sunlight falls into the moss-green world. Beyond the shrine, up a steeper slope, is "Ugetoiwa", a huge 10 m hole in the rock that legend says was kicked through by Kihachi Hoshi, a follower of Takeiwatatsu no Mikoto.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKumamoto, KumamotoKumamon SquareThe base of "Kumamon", Kumamoto Prefecture's sales manager and happiness manager, which also provides tourism and local-product information. Kumamon performs on the "360-degree stage" every day, and there are photo spots, an AR game on a large screen, "FAN'S HOUSE" collecting Kumamon's treasured things, "BAZAAR" with goods sold only here, and a cafe with sweets made from Kumamoto products.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKumamoto, KumamotoKumamoto CastleOne of Japan's three great castles, also called Ginnan Castle, built over about seven years from 1601 (Keicho 6) by the famous general Kato Kiyomasa. A vast castle 5.3 km around and 98 ha in area, it had 3 keeps, 49 turrets, 18 turret gates and 29 castle gates, using stone walls and the natural terrain. It is also famous for cherry blossoms: in spring about 800 trees of three kinds (yamazakura, Higo-zakura and Somei-yoshino) bloom.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetMinamioguni, KumamotoKurokawa OnsenA hot spring village in the mountains at 700 m. Its 30 inns and the countryside are treated as "one inn": each inn is a "detached room" and the lanes between them are "corridors", and the whole village welcomes guests. Seven kinds of spring water rise here, and the "Nyuto Tegata" pass (1,500 yen) lets you bathe at any three baths you like; the "Yuakari" event runs from late December to around March.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoKusasenriOne of Aso's best-known sights, at about 1,100 m, with views of horses grazing at leisure and the smoking crater of Mt. Nakadake. The green is bright in summer, and in the depths of winter it can turn silver-white. The car park area has the Aso Volcano Museum, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKuma, KumamotoKyusendo CaveA limestone cave about 4,800 m long, the second longest in western Japan (third in Japan), whose columns and stalagmites, formed over 300 million years, are still growing. There are two courses: a general course taking 30 minutes round the cave, and an exploration course descending a 40 m shaft by stairs; there are also a shop of local products, restaurants, a terrace overlooking Kuma village and a dog run.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetArao, KumamotoManda PitA pit of the Miike coal mine that produced high-quality coal from the Meiji to the early Showa period, supporting Japan's modernisation; it was registered as a World Heritage site in July 2015 as part of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution". You can see the brick buildings preserved as they were, the pit mouth through which miners went between underground and the surface, and the machine room with its huge machinery.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetUki, KumamotoMisumi West PortOne of the three great ports built in the Meiji era, opened in 1887 (Meiji 20) as a harbour town combining the design of the Dutch water engineer Mulder with the skill of Japanese stonemasons. Registered in 2015 as a World Cultural Heritage site among the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution", its 756 m stone wharf, floating pier, drainage channels and relocated or rebuilt buildings are protected and show the scene of the time.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoMt. KomezukaA hill about 80 m high said to have been formed by an eruption about 3,300 years ago, shaped like an upturned bowl with a large hollow at the top. Its slopes are covered in grassland, turning all green from spring to summer.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoMt. Nakadake Crater (Aso)The Aso caldera, 18 km east-west and 25 km north-south, is one of the largest in the world. Of the five peaks of Aso in its centre, Nakadake is still active: its crater, 600 m across, 130 m deep and 4 km around, sends up white volcanic smoke that can be seen close up.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetOguni, KumamotoNabegataki Falls ParkA waterfall about 10 m high and 20 m wide, a popular spot that was used as a location for a tea commercial. Said to have been formed by the huge eruption that made the Aso caldera about 90,000 years ago, water falls widely like a curtain from a step in the lava; you can see it close up from the riverside, and sometimes from behind the fall.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetUto, KumamotoNagabeta Kaishoro (Sea Road)A spot that became famous for the pairing of a road running straight into the sea and the utility poles beside it. Facing the Ariake Sea, which has the largest tidal range in Japan, at low tide a concrete road appears leading to the seaweed farms offshore, and at high tide only the poles stick up out of the water; the scenery changes with the time you visit.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetUto, KumamotoOkoshiki CoastA scenic spot chosen as one of Japan's "100 best beaches" and "100 best sunsets". The Ariake Sea has a large tidal range, and when the tide is out, beautiful curves made by wind and waves appear in the sand; the tidal flats turn orange with the sunset, purple at dusk, silver by day and gold on full-moon nights. From January to April the flats lit by the setting sun are especially fine.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetMinamioguni, KumamotoOshitoishi HillA hill near the Mazeno Gorge in Minamioguni, said to have been a place of prayer for ancient people. Stones that seem to have been placed deliberately are scattered around - a pyramid-shaped "great rock", the "mirror stone" carved with Sumerian letters and the "scissor stone" said to have served as a sundial - with a 360-degree panorama.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKumamoto, KumamotoReigando CaveThe cave where Miyamoto Musashi, who came to Higo in 1640 (Kan'ei 17) at the invitation of Hosokawa Tadatoshi, wrote "The Book of Five Rings", the culmination of his life's swordsmanship. It is on the hill behind Unganzen-ji temple; inside is the Iwato Kannon, and the temple keeps the wooden sword Musashi used in his duel with Sasaki Kojiro.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAmakusa, KumamotoSakitsu VillageOne of the components of the "Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki and Amakusa Region", a fishing village where Buddhism, Shinto and Christianity coexisted during the ban and a faith unique to fishing villages grew. Missionary work began here in 1569 with the Jesuit brother Almeida, and it is said almost all the villagers became Christian. The shrine where hidden Christians prayed daily, a Gothic church and a statue of Mary on the tip of the cape are scattered through the village.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKumamoto, KumamotoSAKURA MACHI KumamotoA large complex opened in 2019 as a landmark of Sakuramachi, Kumamoto, with a bus terminal, shops for fashion, cosmetics and restaurants, a cinema complex and a hotel. On the top floor, under the concept "a garden continuing from Kumamoto Castle", are the "Sakuramachi Garden" with seasonal plantings and the "Rooftop Park" with slides and water play.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetMinamiaso, KumamotoShirakawa SpringA spring chosen as one of the Ministry of the Environment's "100 best waters", representing Kumamoto. Water at 14°C wells up at 60 tonnes a minute all year round, the source of the Shirakawa River that flows through central Kumamoto. You may drink the spring water freely and take it home; heat-treated water and empty bottles are also sold.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetKumamoto, KumamotoSuizenji Jojuen GardenA stroll garden designated a national scenic spot and historic site. It began when Hosokawa Tadatoshi, the first lord of the Kumamoto domain, built a tea house in 1632 (Kan'ei 9), and the garden was completed under the third lord, Tsunatoshi; it is named "Jojuen" after a poem by the Chinese poet Tao Yuanming. Underground water from Aso wells up quietly, and there are a Noh stage and the Kokin-Denju-no-Ma, moved from the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1912. Cherry trees along the paths bloom from late March to early April.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetOguni, KumamotoTsuetate OnsenA hot spring town full of history where steam rises, loved since ancient times as a place for cures. Using the water's high temperature (about 98°C at the source) and abundant flow, steam baths and steaming spots dot the town, and June 4 is registered as "Tsuetate Onsen Steam Bath Day"; the back lanes called "sedoya" are popular for walks. In April about 3,500 carp streamers fly over the Tsuetate River.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetYamato, KumamotoTsujun BridgeOne of Japan's largest stone arch aqueduct bridges, built in 1854 (Kaei 7) by Futa Yasunosuke, a village headman of Yabe, to carry water to the Shiraito plateau, which suffered from water shortages. It is the only stone arch bridge that can "discharge water", about 78 m long and 21.3 m high, and still waters the terraced rice fields of the plateau. In 2023 it became the first civil-engineering structure in Japan to be designated a National Treasure; its water discharges, about 120 a year, can be seen up close.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetAso, KumamotoUchinomaki OnsenA hot spring town with over 100 years of history, said to have been visited by writers such as Natsume Soseki and Yosano Tekkan and Akiko. In an area you can walk around are more than 130 sources, 7 public baths and about 17 inns and hotels, each with its own source and fresh free-flowing water.Official check: 26 Sept 2026
No photo yetYamaga, KumamotoYamaga OnsenYamaga, on the border with Fukuoka, has hot springs across the area - Yamaga, Hirayama, Kamoto and Kikuka - the oldest said to have 1,300 years of history. Most are alkaline, with soft, lukewarm water; in Yamaga Onsen, with the air of the Buzen Kaido road, is "Sakura-yu", recreating Edo-period architecture.Official check: 26 Sept 2026