S P O T ／ SPOT-081

Oniiwa Park (Demon Rock Park)

鬼岩公園おにいわこうえん

A long stretch of the Kani River in eastern Gifu cuts through one of Japan's largest exposed granite formations — house-sized boulders, fissured cliffs, and sculpted natural arches that have been weathering into ever-stranger shapes for millennia. Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1934, Oniiwa ('Demon Rock') Park takes its name from a Heian-period legend: a demon called Seki-no-Tarō was said to live in these boulders, and the local festival held every Setsubun (around February 3) reverses the standard Japanese bean-throwing chant. Where most communities throw beans while shouting 'Demons out, fortune in,' the people of Oniiwa shout 'Demons in, fortune in' — because in their version of the story, the demon, once driven out, returned as a benevolent god and is now welcomed back. The park's walking trails climb among the boulders with rope ladders and chained pitches; a hot spring district adjoins the entrance. The geology, the legend, and the inverted bean-throwing ritual together produce one of the most distinctive folk-religion landscapes in the Tōkai region.