The Oita prefectural tourism site gives the peak in the Tano district of Kokonoe, which is where Kyusui-kei lies, as early to mid-November. The gorge is two kilometres of near-vertical cliff on both banks of the Kusu river, with old-growth fir, hemlock and katsura holding the slopes.

Its other name explains the drive. The road through is a run of hairpins tight enough to be called Jusan-magari, the thirteen bends, and anyone at the wheel will see almost none of the gorge. That is not a complaint about the road; it is the reason the viewing platform at the pass exists. Stopping is not optional here, it is the only way the valley resolves.

There is a second vantage nearby. A long pedestrian suspension bridge crosses the country above, and from its deck the same gorge reads differently — further off, seen from above rather than across, with the ridgelines behind it in the frame. Doing both in a morning gives you two versions of one place.

It is fifteen minutes by car from the Kokonoe interchange. The surrounding highland is dense with hot springs — this is the approach to the Kuju range and its onsen — and the standard shape of the day is the gorge first and a bath afterwards, while the light goes.