Japan
Iya Valley
Vine bridges swaying over gorges so deep the river sounds arrive late.
The bridge moves. Kazurabashi, woven from tonnes of mountain vine and rebuilt every three years, sways and creaks above the Iya River as you cross it plank by plank. The Iya Valley cuts deep into the mountains of Shikoku, Japan's least-visited main island, and the remoteness is the point — the defeated Taira clan are said to have hidden here after the Genpei War eight centuries ago, and the valley still carries the air of a place that does not want to be found.
Isolation preserved architecture and customs here that vanished elsewhere long ago. In Ochiai, thatched and tiled farmhouses from the eighteenth century onward cling to a hillside so steep the village climbs like a staircase; eight of them were restored between 2012 and 2016. The vine bridges, by tradition built so they could be cut in an instant if enemies came, are now Shikoku's most recognisable image, the main span 45 metres long over the water. Along the old cliff road a bronze boy pees into the void from the precipice where local boys once did the same. At the valley's mouth the Yoshino River has carved the Ōboke and Koboke gorges, run today by sightseeing boats and rafts.
Solo
The valley's remoteness sets the pace. Solo travellers find river sound, vine bridges and hillside farmhouses, and little else competing for attention.
Couple
A hillside farmhouse stay, an open-air bath hung over the gorge, a dinner of river fish grilled on the hearth, and mornings when nothing is audible but the river far below.
- Kazurabashi, a bridge of woven mountain vines rebuilt every three years, sways above the Iya River.
- The valley's isolation preserved hillside farmhouses in Ochiai, now restored and open to stay in.
- The Ōboke and Koboke gorges at the valley mouth are run by sightseeing boats and white-water rafts.
- Outdoor hot-spring baths hang on the gorge edge, one reached by its own cable car.
Iya soba, coarse and dark with buckwheat that was once ground by hand in stone mortars, served cold on a bamboo mat.
River fish — ayu or amego trout — skewered, salted and slow-roasted by the hearth at the valley inns.
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