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Ise-Shima NP, Mie
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Anori fugu boats leave at midnight; fishers set baited longlines at sunrise, then clip each puffer’s sharp teeth before it enters a live pen, so tank-mates cannot bite and scar one another.
When Anorisaki’s first lighthouse lit up on 1 April 1873, it became Japan’s first lighthouse to use a Fresnel lens, concentrating an oil lamp’s light into a beam that could guide ships farther out to sea.
“Anori fugu” is a local label, not a separate species: it means wild tiger puffers weighing at least 700 g, caught from Enshū-nada to Kumano-nada and landed mainly at Anori Port.
In Anori village beside the cape, the puppet-theater playhouse dates to 1860 and has a ship-hull-shaped stage—one of only 3 surviving examples of this design in Japan, according to Mie Prefecture.
The lighthouse’s unusual square tower has a practical backstory: waves ate away the cape’s ground, forcing the light landward. When erosion continued, builders replaced it with today’s concrete tower in 1948.
Anori fugu buyers inspect the live fish and bid aboard each returning boat. Holding auctions vessel by vessel minimizes handling, helping keep the prized puffers from being injured before they reach local kitchens.
Anori’s puppet plays paused in 1926, but the New Year’s Sanbasō rite continued with its 3 puppets, praying for safe voyages and good catches. The regular performances returned in 1950.
Anori’s 1681 sea beacon used an oil lamp; in fierce wind and rain, extra firewood was burned to strengthen its signal. A later lamp, funded by fees from visiting ships, continued until 1881.
Local tradition—not a proven historical record—traces Anori’s puppet theater to 1592: villagers are said to have welcomed naval lord Kuki Yoshitaka with performances after his prayer for a fair wind was answered.
Shima City’s 2026 festival program featured a school local-arts club alongside Anori’s puppet-preservation society, and welcomed former student-club members back to perform—a tradition handed on through live performance.
Anorisaki’s first lighthouse was an octagonal wooden tower. When retired, it was dismantled and moved to Tokyo for preservation, having been considered Japan’s oldest surviving wooden lighthouse at the time.
