Japan 
In numbers.
2.6m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Jul–Oct
Best months
1,265m
Elevation
The water at Sanjō Falls, month by month
It roars from July to October.
The fullest months: from July to October. Below −4 °C on average (from January to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 1.6 m³/sJan
- 1.2 m³/sFeb
- 2.1 m³/sMar
- 2.7 m³/sApr
- 2.6 m³/sMay
- 2.7 m³/sJun
- 3.9 m³/sJul
- 3.7 m³/sAug
- 4.0 m³/sSep
- 4.1 m³/sOct
- 2.8 m³/sNov
- 1.9 m³/sDec
From about 1.2 m³/s in the lowest month to 4.1 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from July to October.
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 Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Sanjō Falls is a waterfall in Japan.
Getting there.
- Katashinanearest town · 14 km in a straight line
- Fukushima Airport (FKS)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 109 km in a straight lineCar hire at KIJ airport (Niigata)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From July to Octoberbest 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.
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 185 m in 2.6 km.
What is around.
- 2viewpoints三条ノ滝展望台, 平滑ノ滝展望台
- —waymarked walking routes
- —car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- 1toilets
- 2information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 km渋沢大滝, 平滑ノ滝
- —caves
- 1campsites山ノ鼻キャンプ場
- 18hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km御池ロッジ, 尾瀬ロッジ, 山の鼻小屋 and 15 more
- 2restaurants 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
- Katashina14 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 | -4 | -3 | 1 | 9 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 23 | 19 | 13 | 6 | -1 |
| Night °C | -10 | -10 | -7 | -2 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 4 | -2 | -7 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 93 | 61 | 88 | 103 | 111 | 147 | 220 | 179 | 187 | 170 | 100 | 105 |
| Wet days | 19 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 16 | 20 |
| Sun h/day | 1.8 | 3.0 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 6.1 | 5.2 | 4.2 | 5.6 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 22 | 24 | 16 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,265 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 | 122% | 74% | 113% | 145% | 83% | 105% | 169% | 45% | 128% | 79% | 37% | 62% |
| 2021 | 100% | 134% | 145% | 104% | 89% | 112% | 109% | 160% | 82% | 70% | 109% | 125% |
| 2022 | 53% | 104% | 84% | 131% | 126% | 84% | 100% | 97% | 110% | 51% | 98% | 103% |
| 2023 | 53% | 79% | 101% | 85% | 156% | 285% | 58% | 78% | 110% | 68% | 111% | 66% |
| 2024 | 98% | 134% | 177% | 86% | 148% | 97% | 88% | 133% | 121% | 110% | 125% | 59% |
| 2025 | 85% | 102% | 118% | 132% | 204% | 106% | 70% | 109% | 153% | 118% | 80% | 116% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Sanjō Falls
Japan
- —Height
- 2.6 m³/sAverage flow
- Jul–OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q11355802) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| 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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