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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Miyagi
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Before the 1896 Meiji Sanriku tsunami reportedly snapped about 2 metres from its tip, this 16-metre pillar was called Tenchūgan, “Heaven-Pillar Rock.” Afterward, it became Oreishi—“broken stone.”
Oreishi’s name recalls its broken tip in 1896, but the 16-metre marble pillar withstood the 2011 tsunami intact. Its survival made it a local symbol of recovery—a strikingly different chapter in the same rock’s story.
At the nearby Hanzo Rest House, Oreishi appears on the menu as “Oreishi Geo Curry”: rice stands for the rock, curry for the Karakuwa sea, and a cutlet of Kesennuma swordfish for the rugged shore.
Oreishi began as limestone about 260 million years ago; later heat transformed much of it into marble. Waves have carved the surrounding coast from this ancient rock, leaving a 16-metre pillar just 3 metres wide.
Oreishi has a look-alike on Jeju Island, South Korea: Oedolgae, a sea stack on Jeju Olle Course 7. Miyagi Olle’s guide draws the comparison, linking two distant coastal pillars through their walking trails.
Oreishi rises in Ogama, or “giant cauldron.” Nearby, breakers churn as if boiling in a huge pot, while offshore Yawata Rock looks like its lid—a wonderfully vivid name for the surrounding seascape.
