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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Iwate
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Jōdogahama means “Pure Land Beach.” Local tradition says that in 1681–1683, Zen priest Reikyō Ryūko saw the white rocks, green pines, and blue water and likened the scene to the Buddhist paradise.
In 1917, poet Miyazawa Kenji saw kelp spread out to dry on Jōdogahama’s pebbles. He turned that everyday coastal work into a short poem, comparing the shining seaweed to velvet.
The nearby Blue Cave is also called Hachinohe-ana—“Hachinohe Hole.” Local folklore says it reaches all the way to Hachinohe, in Aomori Prefecture; a legend, not a geological tunnel!
Jōdogahama’s white rhyolite formed about 44 million years ago, but the shoreline’s striking shape is far younger: rising seas after the last Ice Age gradually eroded the rocks, shaping the coast by about 7,000 years ago.
The green crowns on Jōdogahama’s pale rocks are red pines growing right on the stone. They cling to upper parts of the formations, where waves have less reach—a living contrast that helps make this coast so distinctive.
Near the Jōdogahama Rest House, two memorials preserve different lessons: a 1934 stone warns people to head uphill after a major quake; a memorial for the 1960 Chile tsunami warns that a tsunami can arrive without local shaking.
The 2011 tsunami did more than damage buildings and paths: Japan’s Environment Ministry reported that it greatly changed the shape of the pebble beach at Ok Jōdogahama. Residents joined cleanup and recovery efforts along the coast.
The center’s exhibits are arranged like a journey toward the coast: the top floor introduces national parks, the second uses sound, video, and graphics to explore the wider park, and the first focuses on Jōdogahama itself.
The center opened to the public on April 29, 2010, as a hub for the 180-kilometer Rikuchū Kaigan National Park. After the 2011 disaster, the broader coast became Sanriku Fukkō National Park in 2013.
