Basenkyo Gorge is a scenic place of towering cliffs along the Mabuchi River down the confluence with the Appi River. On the left side of the river rise Ogami-iwa Rock (180 m) and Megami-iwa Rock (160 m), while on the right side is a rock called “Ohogake” formed by erosion. Each takes on different beauty from season to season. The gorge was named “Ba-sen (literally meaning ‘a horse’ and ‘the paradise’)” in 1950 by the late Kenkichi Kokubu, who was from Ninohe City and was a governor of Iwate prefecture. He came up with the name because the city of Ninohe was a famous growing place of horses and the surrounding landscape along the gorge deserved to be called the paradise. Basenkyo Gorge together with Mt. Oritsume in the northern part of the city was designated as Oritsume-Basenkyo Prefectural Natural Park in 1962.
From the Basen Ohashi Bridge, a pair of huge rocks representing the god (Ogami) and the goddess (Megami) can be viewed. Legend has it that when the god of this mountain fell in love with a goddess of another mountain, the goddess, his fiancée, was mad with jealousy and threw herself into the Mabuchi River and became the river goddess.