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Akkado SHINDEN

Japan Japan Show cave

Akkadō

9 °C inside, all year.

Show caveStalactitesUnderground river

See the descentHow to visit

(関西地方) · Public domain

The descent

The entrance, at 334 m.

The real relief above Akkadō, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.

depth not publishedEntrance770 m1.0 kmvertical × 4.9depth not publishedEntrance770 m1.0 kmvertical × 10.7

The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.

334m

Entrance altitude

from the 30 m relief model

9°C

Inside, all year

the yearly average outside, at the entrance

386m

Rock above

the highest point within 1.5 km

Inside and outside

9 °C inside, all year.

Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 9 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 24 °C at the entrance, 15 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The wettest months are from July to October: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.

outside, at the entrance (334 m)inside
  1. 0°-3°Jan
  2. 1°-4°Feb
  3. 4°-1°Mar
  4. 10°3°Apr
  5. 15°8°May
  6. 19°13°Jun
  7. 22°17°Jul
  8. 24°19°Aug
  9. 21°16°Sep
  10. 16°10°Oct
  11. 10°4°Nov
  12. 4°-1°Dec
Inside: 9 °C all yearFrost outside: Jan–FebWettest: Jul–Oct

Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.

Longest cave in Japan, a limestone cave in Iwaizumi Town, Shimohei District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan

Akkadō is a show cave in Japan. The entrance is at 334 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors.

Read more on Wikipedia

Getting there.

Plan the visit

Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.

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.

The water

The the river runs highest in April and from July to November.

The the river carries about 3.5 m³/s on average here. It runs highest in April and from July to November.

  1. 1.9 m³/sJan
  2. 0.9 m³/sFeb
  3. 2.9 m³/sMar
  4. 5.0 m³/sApr
  5. 4.2 m³/sMay
  6. 2.5 m³/sJun
  7. 4.7 m³/sJul
  8. 5.2 m³/sAug
  9. 6.7 m³/sSep
  10. 7.5 m³/sOct
  11. 4.5 m³/sNov
  12. 3.1 m³/sDec

From about 0.86 m³/s in the lowest month to 7.5 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 144 km².

Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.

From above.

The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.

The ground above Akkadō (Sentinel-2) N 1.5 km

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around the entrance.

  • 1other cave entrances within 3 km安家洞
  • springs within 2 km
  • sinkholes within 3 km
  • caving clubs and spots within 15 km
  • viewpoints within 3 km
  • marked hiking routes within 3 km
  • climbing crags within 3 km
  • named waterfalls within 4 km
  • car parks within 2 km
  • information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
  • bus stops within 2 km
  • campsites within 8 km
  • hotels and guesthouses within 8 km
  • restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

  • Fudai13 km in a straight line
  • Noda15 km in a straight line
  • Iwaizumi16 km in a straight line
  • Tanohata18 km in a straight line
  • Kuji23 km in a straight line

In our other atlases

What else is around Akkadō.

The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.

Peakyas8 mountains within 10 km
Kōne-yama · 2.3 kmTaka-mori · 5.1 kmTenjin-mori · 7.3 kmOnna-wasarabi-yama · 7.5 kmMount Owasarabi814 m · 7.6 kmNobe-yama · 8.1 kmMount Tōjima1,262 m · 9.5 kmKuromori-san · 9.7 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Month by month

The weather outside, at the entrance.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Afternoon01410151922242116104
Afternoon01410151922242116104
Night-3-4-13813171916104-1
Rain (mm)78558188909714813814613583101
Rainy days131111101112161514121212
Sun hours/day2.73.54.85.75.85.13.84.34.74.43.42.5
Snow on the ground (cm)1717134000000413
AfternoonAfternoonNightRain (mm)Sun hours/day
Jan00-3782.7
Feb11-4553.5
Mar44-1814.8
Apr10103885.7
May15158905.8
Jun191913975.1
Jul2222171483.8
Aug2424191384.3
Sep2121161464.7
Oct1616101354.4
Nov10104833.4
Dec44-11012.5

Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (334 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.

Photographs

Inside and around.

Akkado
(関西地方) · Public domain
台風10号被災の岩手県岩泉町安家。お手伝いの後、ほぼ復旧し再開済みの安家洞を見学させていただく。 (30954758045)
Hajime NAKANO from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0

Recent years

Wet years, dry years.

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2020162%140%105%183%118%92%258%107%199%72%79%77%
202192%156%163%131%141%71%91%163%68%101%163%93%
202297%60%161%68%76%174%117%292%77%80%108%93%
202380%116%101%115%178%192%113%107%158%75%155%88%
2024167%217%102%95%98%96%200%209%207%100%86%83%
202594%89%111%199%202%85%33%129%212%111%207%146%

130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month

Caves nearby.

Akkadō

Japan

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 334 mEntrance altitude
  • 9 °CInside, all year

Ryusendo Cave

Japan · 15 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 152 mEntrance altitude
  • 10 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Takkoku-no-Iwaya

Japan · 127 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 80 mEntrance altitude
  • 11 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Abukuma-do

Japan · 308 km

  • —Depth
  • —Galleries
  • 648 mEntrance altitude
  • 9 °CInside, all year

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name, type, published depth and length, visitorsWikidata (Q11450564) · CC0
The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D modelCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
River flow and basinHydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
ClimateNASA POWER, 1991–2020
Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearbyCoastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit
cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.You are here
dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Coming soonVisit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Coming soonVisit
forestsForestyaEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit