noun
Refers to a narrow, steep-sided valley between mountains, often with a stream. A somewhat literary or descriptive term; in everyday speech, 谷 (たに) is more common.
渓間を流れる清流の音が心地よい。
The sound of the clear stream flowing through the ravine is pleasant.
Compound of 渓 (mountain stream) and 間 (space, interval), literally 'space between mountain streams'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word is conventionally associated with the image of a narrow valley carved by a stream.