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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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One of Izu’s Seven Wonders is built into the nearby Iro Shrine: a ship’s mast forms part of its base. Local legend says waves delivered it to the cliff after a salt ship’s crew vowed to offer it in return for surviving a storm.
The cape’s jagged rocks began as lava erupting beneath the sea. Seawater chilled it so quickly that it shattered into fragments—a little like hot glass plunged into cold water.
The honeycomb-like hollows in the cliffs are called tafoni. Salt carried in seawater crystallizes as the rock dries, gradually breaking it apart; the nearby Iro Shrine is tucked into one of these hollows.
Local legend says O-Shizu on the cape and fisherman Ko-kichi on offshore Mikomoto Island lit fires to signal each other after they were separated. A tiny shrine at the cape’s tip is linked to their reunion and its matchmaking reputation.
The park’s 2019 opening menu made local stories edible: seaweed “cliffs” topped Geo-nori ramen, heart-shaped rice gave its Matchmaking Curry a nod to nearby Kumano Shrine, and Geo soft came with Shimogamo hot-spring salt.
The white lighthouse is not the original tower designed by British engineer Richard Henry Brunton in 1871. That first one was wooden; a typhoon badly damaged it, and it was rebuilt in concrete in 1933 before receiving white tiles in 1993.
Ocean Park occupies part of the former Ishirozaki Jungle Park, which closed in 2003. The town bought part of the grounds in 2013, and the new nature-focused park that opened in 2019 is managed by the local Irozaki district.
A nationwide naming contest drew 139 proposals. The winning “Irozaki Ocean Park” entry was submitted by Yoshida of Akita City, far from Shizuoka; the name was chosen for the cape’s Pacific panorama and hopes for a nature park.
When Ocean Park opened on April 1, 2019, the nearby lighthouse grounds—usually accessible only on event days—became open year-round after a request from Minamiizu Town. The lighthouse tower itself remained closed to visitors.
Iro Shrine’s own origin leaflet traces its roots to a shrine established in the 5th century. It says the ascetic En no Gyoja later joined an 11-faced Kannon and established the shrine at its present site in 701.
The cape is written 石廊崎, but the lighthouse’s official name is 石廊埼灯台. Both are pronounced Irozaki—the town itself points out this small, easy-to-miss change of kanji.
