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San'in Kaigan NP, Kyoto
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At Kumihama’s August 9 Sen’nichie, worship at lakeside Nyoiji Temple is traditionally said to bring 1,000 days’ merit. An Edo-period lantern-floating custom grew into a festival with bay lanterns, fireworks, and a giant “大” lit on Mount Kabuto.
On the sand spit that shelters Kumihama Bay, a coin from China’s short-lived Xin dynasty (8–24 CE) was found at the Hakoshihama site. The discovery helped secure the site’s national historic designation; other finds there span prehistoric times.
Local volunteers succeeded with an oyster-farming trial in 1937, and raft farming began around 1950. By 1959, a joint Kyoto–town–fishers project had developed methods for the bay; more than 300 racks and about 100 fishers shaped this recognized cultural landscape.
Kumihama oyster growers adjust the length of hanging ropes to move oysters to depths with suitable salinity and plenty of plankton. Heavy snowmelt can lower salinity enough to slow growth, so raising oysters here takes careful, ongoing attention.
About 20,000 years ago, 4 rivers ran through a valley straight to the Sea of Japan. After the ice age, rising seas and a sand spit enclosed the valley as Kumihama Bay; the spit, Shōtenkyō, was named for its resemblance to Amanohashidate.
Kumihama Bay’s present entrance, Mitoguchi, was artificially opened in 1913. Before then, drifting sand often blocked the water passage and caused problems for shipping; a shallow hollow north of Minatomiya marks the older route.
A 1538 record counted 500 houses in Kumi-no-Hama, the historic settlement by the bay. Local historical research also traces a market to Jūraku, a reminder that Kumihama was a lively place for trade long before modern tourism.
The Environment Ministry identifies Kumihama’s brackish reaches as habitat for 6 freshwater fish species, including the small gobies tabirakuchi and chikuzengohan. It’s a surprising cast of residents for a bay connected to the Sea of Japan.
A Kyoto marine-center survey recorded 3 kinds of seagrass in Kumihama Bay’s shallows: ko-amamo, amamo, and umi-hirumo. Their mix changed across depths of just 0.5–2 meters, making this sheltered lagoon’s underwater meadows distinctive.
Mount Kabuto overlooks Kumihama Bay, and one crag there is nicknamed “Man-Eating Rock.” In one local version of the folklore, a young man stopped the rock by stuffing its mouth with red soil; the story also served as a warning to children not to stay out late.
