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Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Shizuoka
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The cliffs’ golden color began underground: hot fluids altered volcanic andesite and ash, and weathering turned the originally dark-green rock yellow-brown. Low evening sunlight brings out its warm, golden glow.
The cliff’s horse-head profile is nicknamed Uma Rock (“Horse Rock”), and local visitors associate it with good fortune in horse racing. A nearby rest house even sells ema wishing plaques decorated with the rock.
Local ama who harvested tengusa seaweed prayed for safety and purified themselves with the well’s fresh water before diving. After returning, they poured the water over themselves again to give thanks for a safe day at sea.
In July 1960, novelist Yukio Mishima saw Koganezaki’s cliffs from a regular boat passing beneath the cape. He later described the view in The Frolic of the Beasts; a literary monument at the point preserves a passage from the novel.
On December 11, 2017, divers at Koganezaki spotted an unusual deep-sea fish called an akana-mada, about 20 cm long, swimming head-up near the surface. It was a startling visitor to this coastal dive site.
Nearby Ugusu’s silica ore and Koganezaki’s altered cliffs are both gifts of underground hot fluids. Silica, a raw material for glass, began to be mined in the area in 1939, helping inspire Nishiizu’s glassmaking identity.
Koganezaki exposes rocks in the Yugashima Group, formed about 16 million years ago. Shizuoka Prefecture designated this striking propyllite outcrop a Natural Monument on March 18, 1988, for its scientific value.
About 250 cherry trees grow at Koganezaki Park, including 5 kinds of early-blooming sakura as well as Somei Yoshino. Their different flowering times stretch the display from late March into late April, with bay and Mount Fuji views.
A local tradition says that leaving a small pebble at Kogane Shrine can bring love. It’s a charming custom tied to the nearby shore—and a very different kind of treasure from the cape’s golden cliffs.
