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Joshin’etsukogen NP, Nagano
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The sign says 大滝, usually read Ōtaki, but locals pronounce this one Ōzen (おおぜん). It also has the greatest vertical drop of any waterfall on the Zako River.
The hard rock that forms Ōzen is altered andesite tuff breccia from the Kettō Formation. That volcanic material formed around 16 million years ago, when this region lay beneath the sea.
The Zako River is home to native Yamato-iwana char. The local fishery does not stock the river; it protects spawning tributaries as no-fishing zones, allowing the fish to reproduce naturally.
The natural beech-and-oak forest around the Zako valley is roughly 200 years old. Japan’s park planners cite this woodland together with the gorge as an exceptional landscape worth protecting.
