Kikuchi Valley is the located in Aso and

Kikuchi, Kumamoto is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. The city was founded on August 1, 1958. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 49,455 and a population density of 180 persons per km2. The total area ...

cities in

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

, on the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is the source of the

Kikuchi River The Kikuchi River (菊池川, ''Kikuchi-gawa'') flows through the northern part of Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyūshū, Japan. The source of the river is Fukaba, Aso city near Mt. Aso at the height of 1041 metres and flows west through the Kikuchi Vall ...

. The valley is an area known for its resorts and autumn leaves. The area around the outer rim of

Mount Aso Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

is concealed by

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...

, hemlock,

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...

, and broadleaf trees. Water from the

Aso Kujū National Park is a national park in Kumamoto and Ōita Prefectures, Japan. The park derives its name from Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in Japan, and the Kujū mountains. History Established as Aso National Park in 1934, in 1986 after extensio ...

has been chosen as one of Japan's top 100 sources of mineral water by the Ministry of the Environment. The area is home to several waterfalls, which have made Japan’s top 100 waterfalls list, and rapids. A number of drowning accidents have occurred in the area.

Recreation Forest

The woodlands around Kikuchi Valley have been designated as one of the top one hundred forest reserves in Japan. The woodland area, which covers the peaks and foothills of the mountains around the outer rim of Mount Aso, was developed and is being maintained by monitoring and working to prevent increasing pollution levels. The river is a source of water for the 21 municipalities below, who have created an association to regulate the water.

References

{{coord, 33.0050, N, 130.9409, E, source:wikidata, display=title Landforms of Kumamoto Prefecture Tourist attractions in Kumamoto Prefecture Valleys of Japan