Photos: Daniel Lu ( User:dllu ) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nagono · CC BY-SA 3.0
Gohonmatsu Dam (五本松堰堤), completed in 1900 above Nunobiki Falls, is described by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as the first concrete gravity dam in Japan. It is an Important Cultural Property and still supplies Kobe's water, reached by a trail that starts behind Shin-Kobe Station.
Why it's unique
The national heritage database calls it the first concrete gravity dam in Japan; Kobe City words it as the first gravity dam built only for water supply. Either way it is an Important Cultural Property still doing its original job.
The unusual part is the approach: a walk from the bullet-train station past one of Japan's "three great divine falls" to a working Meiji-era dam, in about half an hour.
Before you go
The trail starts behind Shin-Kobe Station: 15 minutes up to Nunobiki Falls (four tiers, about 60 m in all, one of Japan's "three great divine falls"), then another 15 to the dam.
Inside the dam are 157 perforated wrought-iron pipes to relieve water pressure, a response to the failure of France's Bouzey dam. Mandarin ducks winter on the reservoir. Come back down by the Shin-Kobe Ropeway if you would rather not repeat the steps.
