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Iriomote Ishigaki NP, Okinawa
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The name describes the pool: mari means “round” and yudo “pool” in local speech. Its circular basin is about 130 m wide; the 2-tier fall drops 16 m and is one of Japan’s 100 selected waterfalls.
The Urauchi snapper is extraordinarily local: in Japan, it is known only from the brackish reach immediately below Mariyudu, where the river’s fresh water meets the tide.
A 2026 DNA survey identified 254 fish species from Urauchi River water, including 16 on Japan’s Red List. Samples stretched from the estuary to the waterfall, revealing fish life without catching the fish.
Older island oral tradition placed a giant wani-sakana—a “crocodile fish”—in Mariyudu’s round pool before it traveled downriver to the sea. Researchers recorded it as folklore, not a report of a living crocodile.
Island historical accounts treated the upper Urauchi, where Mariyudu lies, as sacred. During rice-growing season, taboos forbade fire, tobacco, meals and headcloths—a custom, not a modern visitor rule.
