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Hatonosu Valley 🕊️ ​

Riverside walking course from Kori Station to OkuTama Station, past an old temple, a giant tree, two waterfalls, and the rugged rocks of Hatonosu Valley.

This page is an English version of a Japanese walking guide from Tachikawa Online. The original Japanese article is preserved word for word, and it keeps all of the photos from the archived page. 🇯🇵

Getting there 🚂 ​

Start station: Kori Station / 古里駅 (JR Ome Line) 🚉

Finish station: OkuTama Station / 奥多摩駅 (JR Ome Line) 🚉

  • The walking course starts a 5-minute walk from Kori Station.
  • Kori Station is unstaffed, but it has automatic ticket gates and accepts Suica, so entry and exit are simple. 🎫
  • By car: about 20 minutes along the Ome Kaido from the Ome interchange of the Ken-O Expressway. 🚗

Trail overview 📋 ​

  • Difficulty: Easy - great for beginners! 🟢
  • Distance: about 10 km 📏
  • Duration: about 3 hr 30 min ⏱️
  • Best season: spring to autumn 🍃
  • Toilets: Kori Station's restroom 🚻
  • Drink: Bring plenty of water. 🥤
  • Lunch: Food options along the course are few, so pack your own. 🍱
  • Bail-out point: Hatonosu Station / 鳩ノ巣駅 sits partway along the course, so you can stop there early or use it as a shorter start. 🚉
  • ⚠️ Parts of Hatonosu Valley walk over bare rock, and the rock is very slippery when wet. Wear shoes with good grip and watch your feet.

Trail route 🥾 ​

Walking time between each point:

The walking times add up to about 2 hr 30 min, so the stated 3 hr 30 min leaves about an hour for photos, rests, and side trips.

Along the trail 🌲 ​

Kori Station to the giant inugusu 🌳 ​

The Tama River carved out a small piece of flat land around Kori Station, and a village sits on it with two places of worship side by side.

  • Tansoin / 丹叟院 is a Soto Zen temple just north of the station. Its Amida hall is said to date from the end of the Muromachi period, and the tiled hipped roof is its trademark. 🛕
  • Kotaba Kumano Shrine / 小丹波熊野神社 is a 2-minute walk west of Tansoin. The huge tower gate doubles as a stage on the back side, so visitors could watch a play with the main hall behind them. ⛩️
  • Cross the railway, follow the Ome Kaido toward OkuTama Station, and you reach the Kori-tsuki no Inugusu / 古里附のイヌグス. This giant machilus tree is squeezed between the Ome Line tracks and the national road, so it lives with constant vibration and exhaust fumes, yet it is the fourth largest tree of its kind in Japan. 🌳

Suniwa Bridge to Hatonosu Station 🌉 ​

The Tama River runs on the south side of the Ome Kaido.

  • Cross Suniwa Bridge / 寸庭橋 and a field path follows the river. Some visitors go down to the water to fish for char, yamame, and rainbow trout. 🎣
  • A little further on is the small Upper Falls / 上の滝, with a good view over the river. 💧
  • Past the falls is a habitat of the Genji firefly / 源氏ホタル. ✨
  • The path here is a mountain path, so your eyes stay on your feet. Remember to look up and take photos. 📸

Soryu Falls to Hatonosu Valley 📸 ​

  • Soryu Falls / 双竜の滝 sits just beyond Hatonosu Station. As the name says, the water splits into two streams that drop into the basin like a pair of dragons. The falls sit in the shade of the rocks, so it is a cool place to stop. 💧
  • Return to the road, follow the Tama River downstream, and the Hatonosu suspension bridge / 鳩ノ巣小橋 appears. 🌉
  • Beyond the bridge is Hatonosu Valley / 鳩ノ巣渓谷, one of the 30 selected views of the Tama River. The river cut the valley through the rugged Chichibu Palaeozoic rock layer, and many people call it the finest valley scenery in OkuTama. Watching the river run below the cliffs and between the giant, oddly shaped rocks is the highlight of the whole walk. 📸
  • The name Hatonosu means "dove's nest", and it comes from a pair of doves that once built a nest here together. 🕊️
  • The flat rocks by the water make a good rest stop. 🪨
  • Char, yamame, and rainbow trout live only in clear water, so the fish here are proof that local people have looked after this stretch of the Tama River. Always carry your rubbish home. ♻️

Shiromaru Lake to OkuTama Station 💧 ​

  • Follow the valley toward OkuTama Station and Shiromaru Lake / 白丸湖 comes into view. Like Lake OkuTama further upstream, it was made by damming the Tama River, and it feeds the Shiromaru power station and the third Tama River power station at Mitake. ⚡
  • This area is a known spot for Asian black bears, and warning signs stand along the way. Bears are not aggressive by nature, so they normally keep away once they know a person is near. Wear a bell, talk with your companions, or sing as you walk. The original writer walked alone and whistled and tapped the handrail instead. 🔔
  • Past the lake, the route joins the Kazuma Gorge promenade / 数馬峡遊歩道. Kazuma has long been called the hardest stretch in OkuTama because of its steep ups and downs, so this is the final push before town. 🥾
  • Moegi no Yu / もえぎの湯 hot spring sits just before OkuTama Station, and it is a nice way to rest before the ride home. ♨️

Food 🍱 ​

Food options along this course are few, so bring lunch and snacks with you. 🍙

Key photo spots 📸 ​

  • Kotaba Kumano Shrine tower gate / 小丹波熊野神社 ⛩️
    A huge gate that becomes a stage when you walk around to the back.

  • Kori-tsuki no Inugusu / 古里附のイヌグス 🌳
    The fourth largest tree of its kind in Japan, growing between the railway and the road.

  • Upper Falls / 上の滝 💧
    A small waterfall just past Suniwa Bridge, with a wide view over the river.

  • Soryu Falls / 双竜の滝 💧
    Two streams of water falling like dragons into a shaded, cool basin.

  • Hatonosu suspension bridge / 鳩ノ巣小橋 🌉
    The small suspension bridge at the entrance to the rocky gorge.

  • Hatonosu Valley / 鳩ノ巣渓谷 📸
    Bright water against shining rock faces, with giant and oddly shaped boulders. Yama-ajisai bloom here in early summer. 💠

  • Shiromaru Lake / 白丸湖 💧
    Calm water held back by the dam, with a walkway along the shore.

Notes from the original article 📝 ​

This page preserves a Japanese walking guide published on Tachikawa Online, which is now in the site archive. The reporter, Koguma, added two notes that are still worth repeating:

  • Rain started partway through the walk, and the reporter slipped and fell on the rocks of Hatonosu Valley just past the suspension bridge. Wet rock is very slippery, so take extra care there. ⚠️
  • Yama-ajisai / ヤマアジサイ were in bloom in the valley at the time of the visit. 💠

The information in the original article was correct when it was published, so opening days, facilities, and prices may have changed since then.

Source: Hatonosu Valley walking guide on Tachikawa Online / タチオンWalking - 鳩ノ巣渓谷（奥多摩町）.

Related page 🔗 ​

  • 鳩ノ巣渓谷（奥多摩町） is the original Japanese article, preserved word for word. 🇯🇵
  • Otama Walking Trail covers the same stretch of the Tama River with my own recorded times, GPS tracks, and a shorter version that starts at Hatonosu Station. 🗺️

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