Nagaragawa, Gifu Prefecture
Class III/IV
Logistics: Mapple 74 J1. The river runs along Highway 156. Area Map.

Scenery: The river runs through a rural landscape but is also along the route of a major expressway. You'll pass under a number of bridges and banks are hardened with concrete in several places along the run.

Description:
This is one of Japan's most popular whitewater runs. For many years it had the distinction as Japan's longest undammed river, but a recent dam constructed where the river empties into the ocean has stripped that distinction. While this first dam does not affect the whitewater attributes of the run (it's down in the low gradient lower reaches), it hopefully does not mark a sign of things to come.

The run is mostly class III+ that can be boat-scouted by experienced paddlers. A couple of the drops are class IV especially at higher flows. Beware of a lowhead dam that comes partway through the run. There are a couple spots where you can run it, but it depends on the flow so scout carefully and if you don't like the looks of it then you can make the easy portage.