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Ashizuri-Uwakai NP, Kochi
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Ashizuri’s first light began in 1914; a US air raid destroyed the lighthouse in March 1944, after almost 30 years of service. The tower visitors see is the 1960 rebuild.
That rocket-like outline is intentional: the Coast Guard lists Ashizuri as a specially designed lighthouse, made to stand out and express hopes for regional growth. A lighthouse project also records a wish for world peace.
In 1998, Ashizuri was chosen as one of Japan’s 50 favorite lighthouses in a national public selection—from 3,348 lighthouses large and small. It was a people’s choice, not an engineering ranking.
The tower is 18.1 m tall, but its light sits 60.6 m above sea level and reaches about 38 km. Those figures help explain how a modest-looking tower can guide ships far out on the Pacific.
At Cape Ashizuri’s tip, around 60,000 wild camellia bushes grow near the lighthouse. They usually flower around February, adding bright winter blooms to the headland’s familiar white-and-blue seascape.
The cape-tip area around the lighthouse was once part of Kongofukuji’s grounds; the temple is the 38th stop on the Shikoku Pilgrimage. A nearby walking path also passes places associated with the local “Ashizuri Seven Wonders” legends.
