石垣島鍾乳洞

Ishigaki Do - Ishigaki Cave

Useful Information

Location:	1666 Ishigaki, Ishigaki City, Okinawa 〒907-0023. (24.361684, 124.154238)
Open:	All year daily 9-18:30. [2022]
Fee:	Adults JPY 1,200, Children (4-10) JPY 600. Groups (15+): Adults JPY 1,080, Children (4-10) JPY 540. [2022]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	LED Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=3,200 m, T=23 °C, H=90 %.
Guided tours:	L=660 m, D=30 min.
Photography:	allowed, only for personal use
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	石垣島鍾乳洞, 沖縄県石垣市石垣1666番地. Ishigaki Cave, 1666 Ishigaki, Ishigaki City, Okinawa 〒907-0023, Tel: +81-980-83-1550. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1973	discovered by the Academic Exploration Department of Ehime University (Ehime University Academic Exploration Department).
1994	opened to the public.
01-NOV-2002	cave renamed Isigakijima Cave.

Description

石垣島鍾乳洞 (Ishigaki Island Limestone Cave) is named after the island Ishigaki where it is located. The cave has nice stalactites and stalagmites. A popular selfie spot is the トトロ鍾乳石 (Totoro Stalagmite), named after the popular anime My Neighbor Totoro. A Totoro is a friendly wood spirit. But the coolest thing of the movie, the cat shaped bus (ネコバス, Nekobasu, Catbus), is unfortunately not found in the cave. There are also rimstone pools filled with calcite crystals, cave corals and a cave lake called Lake of Longevity. The coral reef limestone is full of fossils, for example huge clams.

The cave has an artificial entrance and an artificial exit, so it is visited on a one way tour. There are several illumination events throughout the year, where the cave is illuminated with thousands of small lights, similar to a Christmas tree. As far as we know there is no schedule, so you should ask the operator directly for dates. However, the light is even without such an event quite annoying. The lamps are only partly coloured, but numerous speleothems were decorated with christmal tree lights. This is a danger because of lampenflora, also there is the danger that the lights are covered by calcite, and finally its quite kitschy.

The cave entrance is surrounded by a lush tropical garden, with tropical trees and flowers, mango and banana trees, dragon fruits, pineapples and papaya. There are Oogomadara butterflies, palm tree crabs, and goats. There is also a restaurant with local specialties and a souvenir shop with local products like Awamori liquor.

Quite impressive is the virtual tour of the cave, which can simply be accessed with Google Street View. It works well with any browser in Google Maps or with Google Earth.

The cave has another show cave only 200 m to the north. Obviously they are not happy with this competitor, so they warn customers on their website not to mix up the caves.

間違えないようにご注意ください近くに同様な鍾乳洞があります。施設名が「石垣島鍾乳洞」であることをご確認ください。
Please be careful not to make a mistake. There is a similar limestone cave nearby. Please confirm that the facility name is "Ishigaki Island Limestone Cave".

The cave was discovered in 1973 by the Academic Exploration Department of Ehime University, 愛媛大学学術探検部 (Ehime University Academic Exploration Department). This was the first caving group in Japan, founded by Hiroshi Yamauchi and Akihiko Kashima just a year before. It was named 龍宮城鍾乳洞 (Ryū Miyagi shōnyūdō, Dragon Palace Castle Stalactite Cave), and later the entrance was a white tower, which resembles a "dragon palace castle". Later it was known as 竜宮城鍾乳洞 (Ryugujo shonyudo, Ryugujo Limestone Cave). In 2002, it was renamed Ishigakijima Stalactite Cave.