Minoh Falls

This guide to Minoh Falls near Osaka opens at a dark opening in the rock behind the cascade, known locally as the dragon hole, said to be the den of a dragon god. It follows En no Gyoja, the ascetic who trained under this waterfall more than 1,300 years ago and founded Shugendo, Japan's mountain worship tradition, and traces where the falls, the park and the town all got their shared name. Look up along the trail — wild monkeys sometimes move through the trees above, watching every traveler who stops to look at the falls.