Finding canyons to explore is one of the best adventures to have and Japan has plenty of places to explore. With a long history of sawanobori (river climbing), Japan has been well mapped and using some of these maps is a good way to find a canyon course for yourself. But picking the right one is always part of the fun.
Ebira Sawa was found during one of the never ending quest for canyons and in late spring three of us went off to explore this area. In the research there were mentions of large waterfalls and some good canyon areas so we went on in with a day of investigation.
Hiking through the canyon after climbing up crumbling slate hills and questionable anchors, Ebira turned out to be a small but nice half day canyon for exploration, with some smaller falls and a lot of rocky outcrop sections. The final two waterfalls where the most exciting section had us hanging off rusted pitons placed many years ago as we couldn’t find any natural anchor points.
