Japan Heritage story
Kamenose: crossing the landslide heart of the Tatsuta Kodo
もう、すべらせない！！
Kamenose, on the border of Nara and Osaka, is where all the water of the Nara Basin squeezes out through a narrow gorge. The ground here has been sliding for 40,000 years, yet the ancient Tatsuta Kodo road through it was the capital's western gateway, and people have protected it with the best technology of every age.
Key facts
- Theme
- Sea and waterside, Festivals and rituals
- Era
- Nara, Heian, Edo, Meiji
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- もう、すべらせない！！
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- ～龍田古道の心臓部「亀の瀬」を越えてゆけ～
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 奈良県（三郷町）・大阪府（柏原市）
The story
If a landslide at Kamenose blocked the Yamato River, the Nara Basin would flood like a lake and the water would then burst onto the Osaka Plain. Even so, the Tatsuta Kodo, the old road beside the river, was the easiest route from the Nara capital to Osaka and the continent, the only one you could ride over on horseback. The narrow, steep valley felt like a gate, and poets of the Man'yoshu wrote of looking back at Mount Tatsuta and the loved ones they had left in the capital.
To guard this gateway, Tatsuta Taisha was founded to worship gods of the wind, a rare role for a dragon, which in Japan usually rules water. Its sacred rope is wound around the pillars like a dragon, and today even pilots and athletes come to pray. In modern times there have been three landslides; work to stop them has gone on for almost 60 years and cost over 85 billion yen.
What to see
- Kamenose Tunnel: a brick railway tunnel buried by a landslide, now open to visitors, with steam soot and the collapse face still visible.Google Maps 亀の瀬トンネル (opens in a new tab)
- Tatsuta Taisha: the shrine of the wind gods, with its unique dragon-shaped rope.Google Maps 龍田大社 (opens in a new tab)
- Tatsuta Kodo: the old road through the Yamato River gorge, walked by travellers for over 1,400 years.
Plan your trip with the Nara prefecture guide and the Osaka prefecture guide, and see more history.
Good to know
- Look at the railway bridge crossing the river at an angle, a detour forced by the landslides.
- Visit Tatsuta Taisha for the Fuchin Taisai, its festival to calm the wind.
- Come in autumn, when Tatsuta is famous for red leaves.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Kamenose important?
All the Nara Basin's water flows out here. A landslide blocking the river could flood Nara and then Osaka, so it is constantly protected.
What is special about Tatsuta Taisha?
It worships gods of the wind, and its dragon-shaped sacred rope is found nowhere else.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Aizu's 33 Kannon pilgrimage: faith with a day out
- Asuka: the women who shaped the birth of Japan
- Date Masamune's dazzling culture in Sendai and Matsushima
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Hida no Takumi: 1,300 years of master woodworkers in Takayama
- Hinenosho: a medieval estate next to Kansai Airport
- Iga and Koka: in search of the real ninja
- Izumo: the sacred land where the sun sets
- Katsuragi Shugen: where mountain asceticism began
- Kawachinagano: a town where the Middle Ages live on
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Michinoku gold: where Japan's gold story began
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.