Yoshimi Hundred Caves

Japan Guides: Yoshimi Hundred Caves, Higashi Matsuyama, Saitama Prefecture

Yoshimi Hundred Caves 吉見百穴 東松山 埼玉県

• Cave History
• The Yoshimi Hundred Caves Today
• Iwamuro Kannon Temple
• Former Site of Matsuyama Castle
• Tousenji Temple
• Gankutsu Hotel
• Access

by Johannes Schonherr

Yoshimi Hundred Caves, Yoshimi, Saitama Prefecture

The Yoshimi Hundred Caves close to Higashi Matsuyama City in Saitama Prefecture are a set of more than 200 ancient tomb graves carved into a hillside. Together with the surrounding attractions, they make for an easy, interesting day trip from Tokyo.

Tuff, a sort of soft stone formed by compressed volcanic ash, can be found in many parts of the world. Wherever humans came across hills formed by tuff, especially its very soft variety known as tuffaceous sandstone, they soon discovered how easy it was to dig in. Caves with stable walls and ceilings, not needing any further support beams or the like, could easily be cut into tuff with even the most primitive tools.

Yoshimi Hundred Caves, Yoshimi, Saitama Prefecture

Cave History

When archeology professor Shogoro Tsuboi of the Tokyo Imperial University (now Tokyo University) came across the barren, hole-dotted Yoshimi Hills for the first time in 1887, he quickly realized that he had discovered a special archeological treasure.

During his excavations of the site, he found a plethora of ancient clay figures, vases and stone tools. Tsuboi concluded that he had found the cave dwellings of a pre-Japanese culture mentioned in Ainu legends.

Further research in the 1920's however proved that Tsuboi had fallen prey to his own fantasies. There was never a cave city in the Yoshimi Hills, it turned out. The many small man-made caves were burial tombs for high-ranking nobles of the Kofun Period (about 250 A.D. to 538 A.D.), the period when Buddhism made its way to the Japanese islands as well as the period when the Yamato Imperial Court extended its influence over large parts of Honshu, thereby establishing the groundwork for the country that would eventually become Japan.

With Buddhism came Chinese scholarship and with Chinese scholarship came written records. To study the Kofun Period, however, researchers must depend on archaeology. The Yoshimi Hills have proven to a very valuable research ground in that respect.

Yoshimi Hundred Caves with entrance to World War II airplane factory tunnel
World War II era Nakajima Airplane Factory Tunnel, Yoshimi, Saitama

The Yoshimi Hundred Caves Today

After walking towards the Yoshimi Hills from Higashi Matsuyama, the biggest town in the area, and after crossing the Ichinokawa River, you soon discover that the Kofun Period folks were not the only ones digging into the tuff here. But let's ignore those other sites for the moment. (More on them later.)

In any case, shortly after you cross the river, the cave-dotted hillside comes into view, the site featuring the Yoshimi Hundred Caves. To enter the premises, you need to buy a ticket.

Various walkways lead up the hill. You can step close to the caves and, if you don't mind getting your clothes dusty or muddy, can even enter them. The caves are not interconnected. They are single, rather small holes dug into the tuff. In many cases, they feature a somewhat elevated part, presumably meant to hold the coffin or corpse. In fact, it's not 100 caves as the name indicates but 219 in total.

Only top-tier people were buried here in the Kofun Period, only the highest chiefs of the ruling clans received the honor. Some of the caves are a little bigger than others and feature several elevated spots. They are thought to be family graves.

In some of the caves, a moss called hikarigoke finds its home. Hikarigoke moss grows in the dark and emanates light, brightening up its environs. This is one of the rare spots in Japan where it can be found.

Climbing the top of the hill, you get a good view over Higashi Matsuyama and the mountains behind it, on clear days you can spot Mount Fuji from here.

Then, take a second tour - through much bigger and much more recent caves this time. Though the site of the Hundred Caves was declared a National Historic Site in 1923, giving it a status of special protection, towards the end of World War II, the Nakajima Airplane Company began building an underground factory here, underground, and thus safe from American bombers. Korean forced laborers dug the tunnels but the project couldn't be finished before the end of the war. Some of the tunnels from that time are open to the public today. These are seriously big tunnels, worth a stroll.

Back out in daylight, you can visit the two small museums on the premises. One of them is not much of a museum at all, actually, merely a room where you can pick up flyers for other local tourist attractions. It does exhibit a replica of the Matsuyama Castle, though, which once dominated the area but which has been razed hundreds of years ago.

The second museum, the Yoshimi Town Archeological Museum, is a lot more interesting. It displays many artifacts found in the archeological excavations of the Kofun era graves. Many of those old clay figures, known as haniwa, look really cute - and you can actually try your own hands at forming them by yourself in the museum. Just ask at the reception desk and you will receive the necessary materials and instructions (for an extra fee).

There are also two restaurants, doubling as gift shops, at the Hundred Caves. One of the restaurants offers a very special corner exhibiting large scale blow-ups of photos taken in 1887, at the time when researcher Shogoro Tsuboi arrived here for the first time. Shogoro Tsuboi may have discovered the old graves for the academic world but the locals knew about them all the time. The photos show hard-working farmers taking care of their fields right below the Hundred Caves as well as their bedraggled families. Country living in those days was not always as joyous as portrayed in so many ukiyo-e prints.

Iwamuro Kannon Temple, Yoshimi, Saitama

Iwamuro Kannon Temple

You will certainly have already noticed the impressive wooden gate covering the entrance of a steep valley on your way to the Hundred Caves. That gate-like structure is the Iwamuro Kannon Temple, a temple dedicated to Kannon, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy.

The temple sits at one of the old entrance paths to Matsuyama Castle which with it shared much history. An earlier version of the temple was burned down during a siege of Matsuyama Castle in 1590, the current version was erected during the Edo Period, dating from 1661 - 1673.

The "ground floor" of the temple features two caves, to the left and to the right of the main temple, housing a total of 88 stone Buddha figures. The stone figures have many layers of paper glued to them – papers on which worshippers expressed their special wishes. The rustling of the papers in the wind certainly adds to the mysterious atmosphere. Most likely, you will be the only visitor.

You can climb up the stairs to the second floor, the inner sanctum of the temple. From the second floor balcony, you have a good view over Higashi Matsuyama City.

Former Site of Matsuyama Castle

If you feel like climbing up the (very) steep path up the valley right behind Iwamuro Kannon Temple, you will, after a few minutes, reach a little plateau on the summit of the hill. This is the former site of Matsuyama Castle.

An important outpost in medieval times, it was besieged and taken from each other several times by rival clans in the Sengoku (Warring States) Period prior to the Edo Period (1603 - 1868). In the early 1600's, the new Edo government ordered the castle to be destroyed.

It is a lonely, overgrown place today. The dry moat of the castle is still there and there are a few memorial markers. From the old castle itself, not a single stone appears to have been left.

Tousenji Temple

Hiking down from the old castle ground to street level is surprisingly easy if you use the "back exit" toward Tousenji Temple. The temple, situated on a street corner close to the Ichinokawa River, is of much more recent vintage. It is dedicated to people who have been "chosen". Lottery winners like to express their gratitude here. But it is most popular before elections when politicians and their followers pray here for electoral success.

Gankutsu Hotel

Walking back toward the Iwamuro Temple, the right side of the road is bordered by a high chain-link fence just before you reach the temple. Behind the fence, you can spot a steep rock wall with various holes in it. One of the holes features what appears to be a balcony. The ground below is overgrown, a few rusty children’s playground remnants can be seen.

That’s what’s left of the Gankutsu Hotel. In 1904, a local farmer with time to spare, Minekichi Takahashi, started to dig into the tuff here. By the time of his death in 1925, Takahashi had created a local attraction only with a chisel and a hammer in his hands: a rock front somewhat resembling a Mediterranean luxury hotel. Takahashi chiseled actually a few real rooms into the stone behind the façade though this was never meant to be a real hotel.

You can see photos of the current state of the Gankutsu Hotel here and of its past, glorious days here.

Access - Getting to Yoshimi Hundred Caves

Train

Tobu Tojo Line from Ikebukuro Station to Higashi Matsuyama (about 1 hour), take the East Exit and a bus bound for Kounosu Menkyo Center, get off after about 5 minutes at Hyakuana Iriguchi stop, walk over the bridge spanning the Ichinogawa River, turn left. You can already see Iwamuro Kannon Temple and the Yoshimi Hundred Caves from the bridge.

Yoshimi Hundred Caves (Yoshimi Hyaku Ana)

Opening times: daily from 8.30am to 5pm

Admission: adults 300 yen, children 200 yen

Address: Hiki Gun, Yoshimi Machi, Oasa Kita, Yoshimi, 324

Phone: 0493 54 4541  (in Japanese)

Website in English

Yoshimi Hundred Caves on Google maps

Haniwa clay figures: You can form your own haniwa clay figures at the Yoshimi Archeological Museum inside the premises of the Yoshimi Hundred Caves. You will receive material and supervision.

Daily from 10.30am to 2.30pm.

Depending on the type of figure, the session will last 1 or 2 hours. Prices also depend on the type of figure and range from 350 yen to 1,000 yen.

Because the figures you make will have to get fired in a kiln, you will receive them about one month after your haniwa session.

Tel: 0493 54 9111 (in Japanese)

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