Genbikei and Geibikei

Genbikei and Geibikei are two famous gorges in Iwate Prefecture in the Tohoku Region of Japan, with Geibikei being the more famous of the two. I went there this past weekend to see the fall leaves and take photos. Actually, Genbikei might be most famous for it’s “Flying Dango” than for the actually scenery. Dango is a sticky riceball that comes in various favors such as seaseme (goma), red bean paste (an), or my personal favorite (the one with light brown sauce on the right), soy sauce (mitarashi). Genbikei has “Flying Dango” because a restaurant on one side of the gorge sends it to the other side of the gorge via rope and basket.

Geibikei’s main appeal is that you take a boat ride down a shallow river that runs between cliffs as tall as 100 meters (about 328 feet). Round trip the boat ride takes about 90 minutes and at the half way point you can get off the boat and walk around some before coming back. The boat ride and scenery is very beautiful and relaxing, though as you might imagine, the 100 meter cliffs can make for some difficult lighting situations if you are trying to take photographs.