Japan 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
The cut
461 metres, to scale.
A slice through Ryūōkyō where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Big Ben · 96 m · Eiffel Tower · 330 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
461m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
3.2km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
32°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
370m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
3 °C warmer at the bottom.
In August the afternoon reaches 30 °C on the floor, against 26 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are in May and in October. The rim freezes at night from December to March. The wettest months are in July and from September to October.
- 3°0°Jan
- 4°1°Feb
- 9°5°Mar
- 15°12°Apr
- 21°18°May
- 25°22°Jun
- 29°25°Jul
- 30°26°Aug
- 25°22°Sep
- 18°15°Oct
- 12°9°Nov
- 6°3°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Ryūōkyō is a canyon in Japan, cut by the Kinu-gawa River. The relief model measures 461 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 3.2 km wide where the cut was taken. It lies within Nikkō National Park.
Getting there.
- Kinugawa Onsennearest town · 2.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 180 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- おさるの山nearest viewpoint · 0.7 km from the floor
- Fukushima Airport (FKS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 75 km in a straight lineCar hire at NRT airport (Narita)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- In May and in Octoberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The Kinu-gawa River runs highest from July to October.
The Kinu-gawa River carries about 16 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from July to October.
- 7.1 m³/sJan
- 7.0 m³/sFeb
- 12 m³/sMar
- 17 m³/sApr
- 17 m³/sMay
- 17 m³/sJun
- 21 m³/sJul
- 19 m³/sAug
- 21 m³/sSep
- 25 m³/sOct
- 17 m³/sNov
- 10 m³/sDec
From about 7.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 25 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 630 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
1.8 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 7.0 × 7.0 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 2viewpoints within 5 kmおさるの山
- 8footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km滝見橋, 星ヶ丘歩道橋 and 6 more
- 2named waterfalls within 4 km虹見の滝, 竪琴の滝
- 7car parks within 3 km
- 1information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 17bus stops within 2 km
- 1campsites within 8 km
- 44hotels and guesthouses within 8 km一心館, 鬼怒川プラザホテル, 佳祥坊福松 and 41 more
- 5restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- caves within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Kinugawa Onsen2.3 km in a straight line
- Nikkō15 km in a straight line
- Imaichi16 km in a straight line
- Ōmiya20 km in a straight line
- Yaita21 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Ryūōkyō.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Peakyas7 mountains within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 3 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 21 | 25 | 29 | 30 | 25 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Afternoon · rim | 0 | 1 | 5 | 12 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 9 | 3 |
| Night · rim | -8 | -8 | -5 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 0 | -5 |
| Rain (mm) | 60 | 46 | 85 | 111 | 120 | 142 | 199 | 152 | 175 | 177 | 76 | 64 |
| Rainy days | 8 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 17 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 9 |
| Sun hours/day | 4.4 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.9 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 17 | 16 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | 0 | -8 | 60 | 4.4 |
| Feb | 4 | 1 | -8 | 46 | 4.8 |
| Mar | 9 | 5 | -5 | 85 | 5.4 |
| Apr | 15 | 12 | 0 | 111 | 6.0 |
| May | 21 | 18 | 6 | 120 | 6.1 |
| Jun | 25 | 22 | 11 | 142 | 5.0 |
| Jul | 29 | 25 | 16 | 199 | 4.0 |
| Aug | 30 | 26 | 16 | 152 | 5.2 |
| Sep | 25 | 22 | 12 | 175 | 4.4 |
| Oct | 18 | 15 | 6 | 177 | 4.2 |
| Nov | 12 | 9 | 0 | 76 | 4.3 |
| Dec | 6 | 3 | -5 | 64 | 3.9 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (370 m) and the rim (877 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 166% | 68% | 115% | 148% | 89% | 118% | 164% | 48% | 93% | 65% | 26% | 38% |
| 2021 | 71% | 154% | 183% | 131% | 89% | 102% | 104% | 189% | 86% | 77% | 102% | 182% |
| 2022 | 42% | 102% | 92% | 124% | 116% | 86% | 88% | 93% | 109% | 45% | 108% | 81% |
| 2023 | 38% | 74% | 109% | 86% | 149% | 346% | 61% | 72% | 152% | 57% | 107% | 40% |
| 2024 | 130% | 124% | 187% | 78% | 146% | 84% | 78% | 168% | 120% | 106% | 140% | 18% |
| 2025 | 62% | 52% | 151% | 132% | 209% | 105% | 63% | 94% | 117% | 118% | 83% | 129% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Ryūōkyō
Japan
- 461 mDepth
- 3.2 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 32°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q11679305) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.You are here