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Saikai NPKujukushima, Nagasaki
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Abunze means “stirrup shallows,” according to local legend. In 1507, a fleeing lord’s stirrup snapped here; he escaped by fishing boat to a nearby island and later died rather than be captured.
On cold, clear winter days, distant islands off Abunze can seem to hover above the sea. This “floating island” effect is a mirage: air at different temperatures bends light and creates an apparent reflection.
Abunze lava contains welded scoria fragments and larger “scoria rafts”—pieces of volcanic material carried within the flow. Geologists have documented them, but exactly how they joined the lava remains unresolved.
The lava’s hollows trap seawater in tide pools. A ranger-led nature program here explained one startling defense: some sea cucumbers can eject sticky, white threadlike organs called Cuvierian tubules when attacked.
The Tsushima Current helps make this coast a frost-free pocket, with an annual average temperature reported at 17°C. Rangers have noted neko-no-shita (“cat’s tongue”) and summer-blooming, orange-red no-hime-yuri lilies among the plants.
Abunze’s roughly 7km of jagged shoreline formed in stages: volcanic lava built the land, then rising sea levels and wave erosion shaped its intricate edge. The black rock is only the first part of the story.
Much of the coast is rough ʻaʻā lava. As it cooled, escaping gas left holes in the rock, while sharp black fragments called clinkers formed among it; waves have since broken the volcanic rock into many sizes.
During a summer survey, rangers found holes about 1cm wide along the path to the coast. Nearby muddy empty shells showed that nininizemi cicada nymphs had climbed out of the ground to molt on nearby trees.
