One Valley, Designated by the State in 1937
Ojikakei (小鹿渓, Oshikakei) lies in Misasa Town, Tohaku District, Tottori Prefecture, and was designated by the state on 8 December 1937. Its category is that of historic sites, places of scenic beauty and natural monuments, as a place of scenic beauty.
The managing body is Misasa Town, appointed on 1 May 1941.
The town records a valley following a tributary of the Mitoku River. The designated stretch runs some 4 kilometres, from a hamlet upstream to a dam.
Planned Together with Another Property
Two properties, apart from one another, are treated under a single plan.
On 14 April 2022 the town published a conservation and management plan covering both the mountain nearby, itself a place of scenic beauty and a historic site, and this valley.
The town records that the plan sets out an approach to conserving and making use of the two together.
It adds that on this basis it will carry the work forward for both as one.
At the Yame tomb group, 5 individual designations were recast into one covering 8. There the designations themselves were rearranged.
Here the designations stay separate and the planning treats them as one. The unit of designation and the unit of conservation part ways.
Criteria Given by Number
Why this counts as a place of scenic beauty is recorded as a pair of numbers.
The town's material gives the criteria for designation as two numbered items.
The criteria for places of scenic beauty are set out in numbered classes, and the ones a valley answers to are cited by their numbers.
For the properties met so far, the assessment comes as prose: valuable for what it shows of local castles of the warring-states period, or one that cannot be left out of an account of modernised transport.
Here a pair of numbers stands alongside the prose. The grounds of the assessment are matched against classes laid down in advance.
A natural landform has been judged against a numbered scheme.
A Scenic Place Whose Scenery Has Changed
The landscape that was designated is no longer quite as it was.
The designated stretch runs up to a dam, which stands at its upper end.
A dam upstream alters how much water runs below it, and how a valley looks depends on the water running through it.
At the okichimozuku habitat, a stretch of river is designated for an alga growing in it. There the subject is a living thing.
Here the subject is the scene that water and rock make together. Such a scene can be altered by works of human making.
The town describes what is there now: water, strange rocks and natural woodland in accord, with falls and pools following one upon another.
Visiting
The valley lies in Misasa Town, Tohaku District, Tottori Prefecture, managed by the town.
A footpath of about 1 kilometre runs through the heart of the scenery.
Individual features carry their own names: a crystal fall, a dragon-maiden cliff, a powdering rock, a waking rock, a smiling rock. The last lies below a pool and is said to look like a smiling face when viewed from the waking rock.
In early summer the town's flower, a rhododendron, comes into bloom; in autumn the fruit of the town's tree, a horse chestnut, ripens.
The town has closed the footpath for a period while road repairs after storm damage go forward. Check before travelling.
Q&A
- When was the valley designated?
- On 8 December 1937, by the state, as a place of scenic beauty within the category of historic sites, places of scenic beauty and natural monuments.
- How far does it extend?
- Some 4 kilometres along a tributary of the Mitoku River, from a hamlet upstream to a dam. A footpath of about 1 kilometre runs through the heart of it.
- Is it linked to the mountain nearby?
- Yes. In 2022 the town published a plan covering both, and says it will carry conservation and use forward for the two as one.
- What are the criteria for designation?
- Numbered classes setting out why a place counts as one of scenic beauty. Two are cited for this valley.
- Can it be visited?
- The town has closed the footpath for a period while road repairs after storm damage go forward. Check before travelling.
Basic Information
| Name | Ojikakei (小鹿渓, Oshikakei) |
|---|---|
| Location | Misasa Town, Tohaku District, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Place of scenic beauty within the category of historic sites, places of scenic beauty and natural monuments; designated as a natural landscape rather than as a building or a work of art; two numbered criteria are cited |
| Year Designated | 1937 (8 December), designated |
| Quantity | 1 valley |
| Dimensions | Some 4 kilometres along a tributary of the Mitoku River, from a hamlet upstream to a dam. A footpath of about 1 kilometre runs through the heart of the scenery. The crystal fall is 2 metres wide |
| Owner | Managed by Misasa Town (from 1 May 1941) |
| Public Access | The footpath is closed for a period while road repairs after storm damage go forward |
References
- Misasa Town: publication of the conservation and management plan
- https://www.town.misasa.tottori.jp/315/319/446/332/1735/30370.html
- Misasa Town: the conservation and management plan (PDF)
- https://www.town.misasa.tottori.jp/files/51997.pdf
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
- Cultural Heritage Online
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.17