I went to the Osawa limestone caves, a hidden gem in the Osawa Pass in Gosen, Niigata Prefecture. I checked to see if there were any limestone caves in Niigata, and there were. It was in Gosen City! I found a half-remembered spot called Osawa Pass!

This is the sign. There are parking spaces along the road.

The sign for the entrance to the limestone caves... Enter the mountain path with your heart pounding.

The mountain path goes on steadily. Unfortunately it was raining on this day, but the mountain is still beautiful! It felt like a bit of a hike to get to the limestone caves.

After 15 minutes of walking slowly along the mountain path, we saw! A signboard with a limestone cave information map! It seems that these limestone caves are rare, with only two or three in the whole country, and a detailed explanation is provided. I couldn't suppress my racing heart, so without reading it, I went!

Right next to the sign, there it is: a limestone cave. It's like going underground, and it's literally pitch black at the back of the cave, so you can't see anything. Scary...

You gather up your courage and go inside. This is a bit scary to sneak in by yourself... you can't see anything... deep inside...

This is a view from inside the limestone cave. You can see that the lights on the ground are getting further and further away. A torch is an absolute necessity when entering here, without which you will have to keep falling down in the limestone caves. Take it with you for sure!

This is the view inside the limestone cave... Even though it was just a cool day, the temperature difference from the lower world was lightly more than 5 degrees Celsius... The sound of raindrops dripping from the ceiling... On the rock wall, there were many names of people mysteriously dug into the rock. ... horror...

A little further on, I saw something enshrined. I thought this was definitely something scary to see at night. It looks like it is in broad daylight and has a strange air about it. Incidentally, I didn't bring a torch that day, so I relied on my iPhone light to explore. Although you can get by, there are places where you can't get it back if you drop it, so a torch is a must!

This stalactite cave is said to be 116m long... it's a mind-boggling length... the further you walk, the more animal noises you hear... there's definitely a bat in here...

As you go deeper and deeper, you see a sign saying something "Dangerous". It's scary. But we have no choice but to go up. Checking your footing, you slowly, slowly climb the old stairs. The animal noises get closer... oh, the horror...

This is what it looks like when you get to the top of the stairs..! A swarm of bats, half a dozen of them, started to appear around the top of this staircase! Aimed at me! Oh no! I screamed! I unintentionally drop my iPhone to the ground! Oh, shit! What a surprise! Me picking it up quickly and clutching the iPhone even tighter than usual, and the oncoming swarm of bats, me running away, the oncoming swarm of bats, this is a veritable hellscape! There were probably 20 of them! I feel like I've seen enough bats for a lifetime!

This would be the goal. Something was also enshrined here. Taking advantage of the fact that the cave was a dead end, we quickly left the place and escaped from the cave. I don't think we were in the cave for more than 20 minutes in total, but the extraordinary afterglow lasted for a while afterwards, as if we had been in a natural haunted house...

Well, there is such a hole in the ground in Niigata... I think you can definitely expect a fishing bridge effect at this place, so couples who have the guts should definitely visit. I went alone, though! The ground is very muddy, so boots and a torch are essential!

Spotlight.

Oosawa Cave

• Address: 1195 Osawa-eki, Kariyuza, Gozen City