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San'in Kaigan NP, Kyoto
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The 1927 North Tango earthquake left a striking geological record at Goshikihama: it lifted the wave-cut rock shelf by about 50 cm, and raised wave notches still show the sudden shift.
The colorful stones have lived more than one geological life: rivers and waves rounded them, volcanic tuff entombed them, then weathering freed them again. A roughly 5-m-thick Miocene pebble layer is preserved nearby.
A 2010 Environment Ministry field note records a local woman gathering seaweed here. She explained what residents eat and shared a shellfish known locally as “niina” with the ranger.
The broad rock shelf is pocked with natural potholes. Wave-tossed pebbles spin in hollows and scrape the rock around them, gradually grinding each depression deeper.
Goshikihama’s marine park covers 31.3 hectares offshore. Its shallow reefs support seaweed and seagrass, with fish such as wrasse, rockfish and sea bream recorded there; the area was designated in 1990.
A local gazetteer compiled in 1841 records Goshikihama’s colorful pebble shore. Much of the shingle in a small eastern cove is now hidden beneath huge rocks that fell from the surrounding cliffs.
