270px, Ogami Rock overlooking the Basenkyō ravine in Iwate The is a river located in northern

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectu ...

and eastern

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

of northern

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

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 n ...

Overview

The Mabechi River is long and has a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of . The Mabuchi River rises from the Sodeyama Plateau in the

Kitakami Mountains is a mountain range in northeastern Honshu, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.Kitakami Moun ...

of northeastern

and flows to the northeast between the Kitakami Mountains and the

Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. The range is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō ...

through eastern

into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

Hachinohe, Aomori is a city located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 221,459, and a population density of 725 persons per km2 in 96,092 households, making it Aomori Prefecture's second largest city by population. The city ...

. The Port of Hachinohe is located at the mouth of the river. The city of Hachinohe utilises water from the Mabechi River for industrial purposes.

Basenkyō

Near the boundary between Ninohe and town of Ichinohe, the river passes through a valley with cliffs, rock formations and pools. Geologically, the surrounding hills are composed of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...

and are the remnants of an ancient submarine volcano. The ravine is flanked by a 280 meter monolithic cliff labelled the on one side, and the on the other. Nearby (371.1 meters) is regarded as a holy mountain, and houses a statue of Kannon Bosatsu in a cave which is an object of pilgrimage. These rock formations and the mountain have been designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and

Natural Monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

since 2006. The area is located within the

Oritsume Basenkyō Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1962, the park spans the municipalities of Ninohe, Ichinohe and Kunohe. The central features of the park are and . See also * National Parks of Japan National may ...

References

External links

Visit IwateNinohe tourist informationIwate Cultural information

Notes

{{Authority control Rivers of Iwate Prefecture Rivers of Aomori Prefecture Hachinohe Sannohe, Aomori Nanbu, Aomori Ichinohe, Iwate Ninohe, Iwate Kuzumaki, Iwate Rivers of Japan Landforms of Iwate Prefecture Places of Scenic Beauty Canyons and gorges of Japan Tourist attractions in Iwate Prefecture