is a tourist attraction located in the gorge of

Yabakei The gorge of is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty spanning the municipalities of Kusu and Nakatsu in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Located within Yaba-Hita-Hikosan Quasi-National Park, it was selected as one of the 100 Landscapes of ...

, now part of Nakatsu City, in

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Legend has it that before the tunnel was built, people had to climb over the cliffs through which the tunnel is built to reach an important local shrine. The path was very dangerous and people regularly fell to their deaths. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, a Buddhist monk named Zenkai, who had committed a murder in his earlier life, decided to build a safe passage for worshipers in order to atone for his crime. Beginning at the age of 49, he dedicated 30 years of his life to digging the 185 metre tunnel by hand, using only a hammer and chisel. The tunnel was opened for use in 1763. Aonodōmon was made famous by a popular book written by author

Kikuchi Kan , also known as Kan Kikuchi (which uses the same kanji as his real name), was a Japanese author and publisher. He established the publishing company Bungeishunjū, the monthly magazine Bungeishunjū (magazine), of the same name, the Japan Writer ...

External links

Panoramic view of Aonodōmon
Transport buildings and structures in Ōita Prefecture Tunnels in Japan Tourist attractions in Ōita Prefecture Designated historic sites of Oita Prefecture {{Oita-geo-stub