Week 14
Discussion
Water Falls
Watery Landscapes
The ancient Greeks believed that all things were composed of various combinations of four basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Aristotle refined the idea and posited that it was in the nature of air and fire to move away from the center of the universe (i.e. the Earth), and in the nature of earth and water to move toward the center of the Earth. That seems as good an explanation as any when one knows nothing of gravity.
When underlain by solid material, water flows downward if nothing stands in its way. Depending on how much water there is, it can form trickles, rills, rivulets, brooks, creeks, streams, rivers, floods, etc. Over time, that can add up to a lot.
When there is nothing solid around to prevent or slow down the descent of water, it falls, sometimes spectacularly, in the form of waterfalls. The photo above gives the idea, though these falls are not among the most notable.
There are so many waterfalls around the world that choosing which ones to show can be difficult, but here are a few to whet your appetite. Keep in mind that though waterfalls are fascinating, paintings of them without including the surrounding landscape isn't all that special. It is the combination of the two that provides interest.
Bridal Veil Falls and American Falls aren't as tall as Horseshoe Falls because of the boulders at the bottom. The drop at Horseshoe Falls is 187 feet. Between the three, 5.9 million cubic feet of water goes over Niagara falls every minute during the peak season.
Niagara Falls has had many famous visitors, among them Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) in about 1871. He wrote about the experience of seeing America Falls close up.
"A guide ... led the way down a flight of winding stairs, which wound and wound, and still kept on winding long after the thing ceased to be a novelty, and then terminated long before it had begun to be a pleasure. We were then well down under the precipice, but still considerably above the level of the river.
We now began to creep along flimsy bridges of a single plank, our persons shielded from destruction by a crazy wooden railing, to which I clung with both hands--not because I was afraid, but because I wanted to. Presently the descent became steeper, and the bridge flimsier, and sprays from the American Fall began to rain down on us in fast increasing sheets that soon became blinding, and after that our progress was mostly in the nature of groping. Now a furious wind began to rush out from behind the waterfall, which seemed determined to sweep us from the bridge, and scatter us on the rocks and among the torrents below. I remarked that I wanted to go home; but it was too late. We were almost under the monstrous wall of water thundering down from above, and speech was in vain in the midst of such a pitiless crash of sound.
In another moment the guide disappeared behind the deluge, and, bewildered by the thunder, driven helplessly by the wind, and smitten by the arrowy tempest of rain, I followed. All was darkness. Such a mad storming, roaring, and bellowing of warring wind and water never crazed my ears before. I bent my head, and seemed to receive the Atlantic on my back. The world seemed going to destruction. I could not see anything, the flood poured down so savagely. I raised my head, with open mouth, and the most of the American cataract went down my throat. If I had sprung a leak now I had been lost. And at this moment I discovered that the bridge had ceased, and we must trust for a foothold to the slippery and precipitous rocks. I never was so scared before and survived it."
Silver Falls State Park (Oregon)
Not all excursions to see the backside of water are as thrilling as Mark Twain's experience. South Falls in Oregon's Silver Falls State Park is an example. South Falls, at 177 feet, is nearly as tall as Horseshoe Falls, but the volume of water passing over it is minuscule in comparison. Regardless, it has over time carved away a large portion of the cliff behind it. A loop trail just under a mile long takes one safely and pleasantly behind South Falls.
Another loop trail in the park, 7.2 miles long, takes visitors past 10 waterfalls.
The area was once (in the 1930s) considered for membership in the national park system, but it was bypassed because of extensive logging in the area. Replanting was done by logging companies with the aim of increasing future crop sizes, not health. The result was forested areas that were far from their natural state. Oregon has spent decades working to restore a diverse, natural healthy forest, but much work remains to be done. Still, the area is beautiful and well worth a visit.
Angel Falls (Venezuela)
At 3,212 feet, Angel Falls in Venezuela's Canaima National Park has the distinction of being the tallest waterfall in the world. Its source is a flat-topped mountain (tepui) where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fancifully found living dinosaurs in his 1911 novel, The Lost World, and where Pixar set the main action of its 2009 movie, Up. During the hottest months of the year, water from Angel Falls evaporates before it hits the ground.
Yosemite Falls (California)
Also pretty tall is Yosemite National Park's Yosemite Falls. The total height of Its three segments is 2,425 feet. The top segment is 1,430 feet, the lower falls is 320 feet, and the intervening cascades 675 feet. The falls are spectacular in the spring when the winter snow that feeds it is melting, but the total drainage area for the falls is only 7 square miles. By the end of the summer, the amount of water that comes over the falls drops to a trickle.
McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park (California)
Waterfalls don't have have a huge volume of water or be tall in order to be awesome. The relatively modest waterfall at this small state park in Northern California is fed by underground spring water, and except for certain times of year, nearly all of its water emerges from strata on the cliff face, laid down by ancient lava flows, rather than falling over the top. It is 129 feet tall, and 100 million gallons of water flow over it daily.
Baatara Gorge Waterfall (Lebanon)
To emphasize the point that the landscape surrounding a waterfall is at least as important as the water falling over it for interest, check out the 837 foot Baatara Gorge Waterfall (aka Cave of Three Bridges) dropping into a sinkhole at Mount Lebanon. In case it isn't obvious, the white object on the rock bridge below the top third of the waterfall is a person. The waterfall only appears in March and April with the snows are melting.
Ban Gioc, aka Detian Falls (Vietnam & China)
On the border between Vietnam and China, the Ban Gioc-Detian Falls drops only 98 feet in total, making it the fourth tallest waterfall in the world on a national border. When the water is at its fullest, the multiple stages of the waterfall rejoin into one. The water emerging from the background cliffs is not part of the waterfall itself. Though relatively small, the thunder from the falls can be heard miles away. Note the boat in the river below the falls.
Iguazú Falls (Argentina & Brazil)
Iguazú Falls isn't a single waterfall but a complex of 275 separate waterfalls and cascades. The tallest, located in the romantically named Devil's Throat, is 262 feet tall, taller than Niagara Falls, and wider than Victoria Falls in Africa which, in season, is a little over a mile wide. While Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world by volume and is truly awesome, Iguazú Falls is far more interesting to look at. James Bond went over Iguazú Falls in the movie, Moonraker.
Nachi Falls (Japan)
Japan is no stranger to waterfalls, though none are on the massive scale that some of the ones shown above are. For beauty, however, Japan holds its own. Nachi Falls is one of Japan's finest. At 133 feet in height, it is Japan's tallest permanent waterfall. Located in the Wakayama Prefecture on the big island of Honshu, the natural beauty of the landscape is enhanced by the presence of the Seiganto-ji Temple and its red pagoda.
Artwork
Japanese artists have drawn inspiration from waterfalls for centuries dating at least as far back as the 15th century. This is a more recent selection of them.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849)
Among Hokusai's many firsts is that he produced the first ukiyo-e series to approach the theme of falling water with his 1833 - 1834 8-print series, A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces. The Amida Falls in the Far Reaches of the Kisokaidō Road is one of them. Picnickers are enjoying the scenery.
Keisai Eisen (1790 – 1848)
The Kegon waterfall, considered by many to rival Nachi Falls in beauty, is located in Nikkō National Park in Tochigi Prefecture on Honshu. It is 318 feet tall and has about twelve smaller waterfalls nearby, leaking through cracks between the lava flows. I don't have a photograph of it here, but Keisai has provided his own version, painted in the series, Famous Scenic Spots in the Mountains of Nikko; 1843 - 1847. Sightseers on the cliff are taking risks for the sake of a good view.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)
The ukiyo-e print below is from the series Twenty-Eight Views of the Moon.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 – 1861)
The print below from the 1842 series, Stories of Wise and Virtuous Women, illustrates a famous story about Hatsuhana, wife of Iinuma Katsugoro who had lost the use of his legs. Hatsuhana prayed under a sacred waterfall for 100-days for the restoration of her husband's legs so that he could exact revenge on Sato Gosuke for the murder of Iinuma's brother. One version of the story says that Hatsuhana died at the end of her successful vigil. Another version says that Hatsuhana was beheaded by Gosuke, and it was her ghost who prayed under the waterfall.
Utagawa Kunisada II (1823 – 1880)
Painted by a student of the first Kunisada, this 1867 triptych is titled Genji and beauties before a waterfall at Saga. Presumably, it is a scene from Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji), thought by many to be the world's first novel, written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu (978 – 1014).
Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945)
This shin-hanga print titled Wagtail Surrounded by a Waterfall and Waves was painted in 1913.
