点评:Ryusendo Cave is one of the three great limestone caves of Japan. Although known to exist for ages the caves were only first explored in 1920. The caves are located at the bottom of Mount Ureri. The main cavern runs along the line of the ridge above with many branches; with 2½ miles explored so far, only ½ a mile is open to the public which we walked over. The path is quite narrow and slippery in part with the lighting subdued due to the protection of 5 species of bats, out of forty found in Japan, which inhabit the cave. These small bats are mainly nocturnal and eat insects. They are considered important locally as they control the population of harmful insects in their ecosystem. Each of the bat colonies have their own echo locating signals to communicate.
The cave system is divided by River Shizu, parts of water from the cave runs in to Shizu River and then flows in to the other part of the cave system. As expected several stalagmites, deposits formed from the ground, are formed. Some are said to resemble Jizo, a guardian deity of travellers and children and Jizo, is treated as a shrine with coin box. . It is believed that it takes 50 years for 1 cm to grow a stalagmite from the base of the cave and 100 years to form 1 cm of stalagmite (they form downward from the ceiling of the cave). There is a information centre, a shop selling local produce and a small cafe which sells freshly prepared 'onigiri'. Onigiri is a freshly cooked rice, so hot, which wrapped around a variety of meats, fish and vegetables or a mixture of them all if you request it in to a ball. You may add various sauces in the centre before the rice ball is wrapped in cooked seaweed. It was ‘ohysee’ - delicious in Japanese.
Across the road there is ample car park and a cafeteria with a shop, ice cream parlour, local beer and has toilet facilities.
翻译:龙泉洞是日本三大石灰岩洞窟之一。虽然已知该洞窟存在已久,但直到 1920 年才首次被探索。该洞窟位于 Ureri 山脚下。主洞窟沿着山脊延伸,有许多分支;目前已探索了 2.5 英里,但只有 0.5 英里向公众开放,我们就是经过了这一段。这条小路非常狭窄,部分地方很滑,灯光很暗,因为要保护 5 种蝙蝠,而日本有 40 种蝙蝠栖息在洞窟中。这些小蝙蝠主要在夜间活动,以昆虫为食。它们在当地很重要,因为它们控制着生态系统中有害昆虫的数量。每个蝙蝠群都有自己的回声定位信号进行交流。
洞穴系统被 Shizu 河分开,洞穴中的部分水流入 Shizu 河,然后流入洞穴系统的另一部分。正如预期的那样,这里形成了数个石笋,即从地面形成的沉积物。据说有些石笋类似于地藏菩萨,地藏菩萨是旅行者和儿童的守护神,被视为带有硬币箱的神社。据信,从洞穴底部长出 1 厘米的石笋需要 50 年,而形成 1 厘米的石笋则需要 100 年(它们从洞穴的天花板向下形成)。这里有一个信息中心、一家出售当地农产品的商店和一家出售新鲜烹制的“饭团”的小咖啡馆。饭团是一种刚煮好的热米饭,包裹着各种肉类、鱼类和蔬菜,或者如果您要求将其揉成球状,可以将它们混合在一起。在将饭团包裹在煮熟的海藻中之前,您可以在中间添加各种酱汁。这真是“ohysee”——日语中的美味。
马路对面有充足的停车场和一家自助餐厅,内设商店、冰淇淋店、当地啤酒和卫生间设施。