Momonoo no-taki Falls (桃尾の滝)
Momonoo no-taki Falls is in Takimoto-cho, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture.
Summary
The falls is located upstream of the Furu-kawa River and is believed to be the one that Emperor Gosaga and Sojo Henjo referred to as 'the falls of Furu' in their poems found in 'Kokin Wakashu' (A Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry). It was within the precincts of the Momoosan Rengeoin Ryufuku-ji Temple, an esoteric Buddhism temple, before the temple was abolished in the Meiji period. This temple is said to have been the main shrine of Isonokami-jingu Shrine and hosts a Shinto ritual to mark the start of waterfall season on third Sunday of July every year.
There are placed Magaibutsu (a Buddhist image carved into the surface of natural rock such as a cliff face, a large rock, or a stone cave) of Fudo triad which was made in the mid Kamakura period, stone images of Nyoirin Kannon (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) and Fudo triad which are believed to date from the early period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), and so on to the left of the waterfall basin; they retain the atmosphere of the time.
Access
West Japan Railway Sakurai Line/Kintetsu Railway Tenri Line: Get off at Tenri Station, take a Nara Kotsu Bus, and after alighting from the bus at Kamitakimoto Bus Stop, walk five minutes.
It is a 15 minutes drive from Tenri Station. Free parking is available.
It takes about 60 minutes to walk from Tenri Station.
Nearby Facilities
Isonokami-jingu Shrine