Japan 
In numbers.
26m
Height
OpenStreetMap
2.3m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jul–Aug
Oct–Nov
Best months
587kW
Water power
estimate
The water at Naso no Shirataki, month by month
It roars in March, from July to August and from October to January.
The fullest months: March, from July to August and from October to January.
- 3.6 m³/sJan
- 2.6 m³/sFeb
- 2.7 m³/sMar
- 2.5 m³/sApr
- 1.8 m³/sMay
- 1.4 m³/sJun
- 2.7 m³/sJul
- 2.9 m³/sAug
- 2.5 m³/sSep
- 2.9 m³/sOct
- 3.5 m³/sNov
- 3.9 m³/sDec
From about 1.4 m³/s in the lowest month to 3.9 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from July to August and from October to November.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Waterfall in Akita, Japan
Naso no Shirataki is a waterfall in Japan. The water falls 26 m over a front 11 m wide.
Getting there.
- Nikahonearest town · 9.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 110 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Shonai Airport (SYO)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight lineCar hire at SYO airport (Shonai)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From July to August and from October to Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
587 kW
About 2.3 m³/s falling 26 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 147 homes, if it were all turned into electricity
Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 60 m in 2.1 km. Here the river runs about 39 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 1viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 11car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 5toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- 1bus stops within 1 km
- 1other named waterfalls within 4 km元滝伏流水
- —caves
- 1campsites象潟海水浴場キャンプ場
- 13hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km叶屋海月荘, しなの旅館, 山形屋旅館 and 10 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Nikaho9.9 km in a straight line
- Yuza18 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 23 | 26 | 28 | 24 | 18 | 11 | 5 |
| Night °C | -2 | -3 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 159 | 104 | 107 | 100 | 103 | 116 | 211 | 186 | 145 | 165 | 173 | 198 |
| Wet days | 25 | 20 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 20 | 24 |
| Sun h/day | 1.5 | 2.6 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 1.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 21 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (150 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 88% | 133% | 119% | 144% | 67% | 82% | 209% | 94% | 183% | 72% | 90% | 106% |
| 2021 | 113% | 149% | 101% | 121% | 127% | 65% | 81% | 91% | 73% | 86% | 150% | 144% |
| 2022 | 109% | 102% | 134% | 94% | 82% | 143% | 67% | 180% | 87% | 81% | 91% | 152% |
| 2023 | 85% | 96% | 80% | 131% | 217% | 211% | 109% | 22% | 141% | 112% | 146% | 106% |
| 2024 | 124% | 84% | 127% | 72% | 122% | 102% | 252% | 80% | 189% | 87% | 111% | 100% |
| 2025 | 97% | 115% | 99% | 173% | 190% | 98% | 9% | 175% | 240% | 145% | 127% | 126% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Naso no Shirataki
Japan
- 26 mHeight
- 2.3 m³/sAverage flow
- Jul–Aug, Oct–NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q11444958) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Height of the drop | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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