Japan 
In numbers.
350m
Height
0.87m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Apr
Jul
Sep–Oct
Best months
3.0MW
Water power
estimate
The water at Shōmyō Falls, month by month
It roars from March to May and from July to January.
It carries water fairly evenly through the year. Below −4 °C on average (from January to February): the falls can partly freeze.
- 0.9 m³/sJan
- 0.5 m³/sFeb
- 1.2 m³/sMar
- 1.5 m³/sApr
- 1.0 m³/sMay
- 0.7 m³/sJun
- 1.3 m³/sJul
- 1.1 m³/sAug
- 1.2 m³/sSep
- 1.2 m³/sOct
- 1.0 m³/sNov
- 1.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.46 m³/s in the lowest month to 1.5 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: April, July and from September 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 Toyama Prefecture, Japan
Shōmyō Falls is a waterfall on the Shōmyō River, in Japan. The water falls 350 m. It lies within Chūbu-Sangaku National Park.
Getting there.
- Kamiichinearest town · 20 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,400 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Toyama Kitokito Airport (TOY)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 31 km in a straight lineCar hire at TOY airport (Toyama)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- April, July and from September 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.
How big is it?
How big it really is.
Height of the drop from Wikidata. Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.
3.0 MW
About 0.87 m³/s falling 350 m: the power of the water as it drops.
- enough to power about 745 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 576 m in 2.4 km. Here the river runs about 131 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- —viewpoints
- —waymarked walking routes
- 5car parks
- —swimming spots
- —picnic sites
- —toilets
- —information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmネハンの滝, 不動滝
- —caves
- 1campsites
- 6hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km立山荘, 天狗平山荘, 弥陀ヶ原ホテル and 3 more
- 1restaurants 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
- Kamiichi20 km in a straight line
- Gohyakkoku21 km in a straight line
- Funabashi24 km in a straight line
- Takenouchi24 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 | -3 | -2 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 20 | 14 | 7 | 0 |
| Night °C | -9 | -9 | -6 | -1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 16 | 12 | 5 | -1 | -6 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 158 | 108 | 121 | 112 | 110 | 147 | 226 | 162 | 181 | 159 | 142 | 184 |
| Wet days | 23 | 19 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 23 |
| Sun h/day | 2.6 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 38 | 46 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,260 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
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 | 87% | 95% | 105% | 114% | 59% | 144% | 203% | 42% | 98% | 91% | 60% | 100% |
| 2021 | 127% | 114% | 89% | 111% | 150% | 87% | 89% | 210% | 93% | 67% | 94% | 124% |
| 2022 | 70% | 110% | 73% | 127% | 90% | 66% | 105% | 160% | 130% | 57% | 97% | 108% |
| 2023 | 71% | 77% | 90% | 122% | 217% | 217% | 80% | 48% | 77% | 86% | 115% | 88% |
| 2024 | 95% | 135% | 167% | 124% | 177% | 124% | 92% | 134% | 136% | 166% | 164% | 94% |
| 2025 | 91% | 110% | 112% | 86% | 148% | 159% | 43% | 163% | 173% | 157% | 96% | 109% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Shōmyō Falls
Japan
- 350 mHeight
- 0.87 m³/sAverage flow
- Apr, Jul, Sep–OctBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q731954) · 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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