is a range of

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...

s located in Kamikawa,

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

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 ...

. Situated in the Daisetsuzan National Park, the area is known for its hotels and

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

(hot springs) resorts as well as waterfalls and magnificent cliffs scenery. The term "Sōunkyō" means respectively the layer (層), cloud (雲) and gorge (峡) in Japanese, and the origin of the name is a word "Souunbetsu" in

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu, is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isolate ...

, which means "the river with many waterfalls".

History

The geography of the gorge and surrounding area were formed by the eruption of Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group, which occurred around 30,000 years ago. The

welded tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

was piled up after the eruption, and it was gradually eroded by the water of the

Ishikari River The , at long, is the third longest in Japan and the longest in Hokkaidō. The river drains an area of , making it the second largest in Japan, with a total discharge of around per year. It originates from Mount Ishikari in the Daisetsuzan V ...

, which currently streams between gorges. Thus, ragged steep cliffs in Sōunkyō were shaped, which range over 24 kilometres.Kamikawa town official homepage
/ref> and have a number of

joints A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

around 200 metres in heightThe Reborn of Sōunkyo
/ref> In 1957, stores and hotels located in the areas surrounding Sōunkyō were relocated to Sōunkyō under the order of the Kamikawa government. They became the origin of the Sōunkyō Onsen (hot springs) Resort. This was a part of the plan to arrange Kamikawa town by the government, and the resort has thrived with many hotels and souvenir shops, formerly constructed for mountaineers, although later they have decayed due to the other resorts in Hokkaidō such as Shiretoko. To renovate its run-down resorts, Sōunkyō and

Ministry of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

collaborated on a reconstruction scheme in 1987. 36 buildings that were in the area were demolished and integrated into 18 hotels, which were designed with

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

coloured walls and sharp roofs representing Daisetsuzan. Most of the onsen resorts were completed in July 1998, and many tourists have visited. Currently, the annual number of tourists is 3 million. Recently, the center of the onsen resorts were arranged as the "Canyon Mall," which was modeled after the mountain resorts in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Overview

The gorge is known not only for its hot springs and hotel resorts but also for its natural scenery. The and were selected as one of the top 100 waterfalls in Japan.mapion 100 waterfalls in Japan
The Daisetsuzan Sōunkyō Kurodake Ropeway is on the slope of the gorge, and tourists can get the ropeway and chairlift to climb the mountain. The Sōunkyō Visitor Center is near the resorts and houses picture panels displaying the scenes of Sōunkyō and guides for visitors. In every January, the Sōunkyō Hyōbaku Festival is held at the riverbed of Ishikari River, and many ice statues and objects are constructed, some of which are colourfully illuminated. Tourists are able to buy souvenirs and hot drinks in some nearby stores, and fireworks are displayed on weekends. Other events held in this festival include a dance of the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

Yosakoi Yosakoi () is a unique style of dance that originated in Japan and that is performed at festivals and events all over the country. The first Yosakoi festival was held in 1954 in Kōchi, Japan, on the island of Shikoku. Yosakoi-style dancing has ...

Soran team, and

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming ...

Sources

External links

Sounkyo Tourism Association

Sounkyo.com (Japanese)

Sounkyo Gorge, Viewpoint and Waterfalls

Lonely Planet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sounkyo Landforms of Hokkaido Tourist attractions in Hokkaido Canyons and gorges of Japan