Iya Valley

Understand

One of Japan's Three Hidden Valleys, Iya was raised into the Japanese and Western consciousness by outspoken Japanese-culture conservationist Alex Kerr. His book Lost Japan ISBN 0864423705 presented an idyllic picture of a misty valley of thatch-roofed houses, stuck in a time warp to days gone by.

These days, much of Iya has been devoured by what Kerr calls the Moloch, with the silence broken by the sound of jackhammers as multi-lane highways and ghastly concrete hotels sprang up to serve people flocking to see the view. Still, while all the rivers have been replaced by the usual concrete channels, and the trees replaced by uniform rows of artificial cedar, some of the less-visited eastern reaches are worth visiting. For a true taste of a Hidden Valley, Yagen Valley up north in Tohoku might be a better option.

The valley can be divided into halves, the more populated and developed West Iya 西祖谷 Nishi-Iya, and the more remote East Iya 東祖谷 Higashi-Iya , which is also known as Oku-Iya 奥祖谷. There are small settlements many of them abandoned along the highway connecting the two, but the largest on the east side is the hamlet of Mi-no-Koshi 見ノ越, near Mt. Tsurugi and the intersection of three small highways.