Sanriku Fukkō National Park was added to Your Favorites!
Kesennuma, Miyagi
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Created in 2013 after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Sanriku Fukkō is Japan's first national park established with disaster recovery as a purpose.
Sanriku Fukkō extends roughly 250 km along the Pacific coast through Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
Sanriku has two distinct coasts: towering marine terraces and cliffs in the north, and deeply indented rias bays in the south.
At Kitayamazaki, sea cliffs rise nearly 200 meters and continue for about 8 km, earning the coast the nickname “Alps of the Sea.”
Sanriku's landscape records hundreds of millions of years of plate movement, volcanic activity, erosion and changing sea levels.
Warm Kuroshio and cold Oyashio waters influence the seas off Sanriku, helping create one of the world's great fishing regions.
Sanriku includes major fishing ports such as Hachinohe, Miyako, Kamaishi, Ōfunato, Kesennuma and Ishinomaki.
Sanriku's sheltered rias bays are ideal for aquaculture, including wakame seaweed, oysters, scallops and hoya, or sea pineapple.
The cold, moist Pacific wind called yamase can cool Sanriku even in summer and helps create unusual coastal plant communities.
At Kitayamazaki, Sanriku's cool climate allows plants normally associated with higher elevations to grow surprisingly close to the sea.
Tanesashi Coast's grasslands aren't entirely wild. Generations of horse grazing and grass cutting helped create the landscape.
More than 650 kinds of plants grow along the Tanesashi Coast, producing changing displays of coastal flowers through the seasons.
Tens of thousands of black-tailed gulls breed at Kabushima. Their Japanese name, umineko, means “sea cat,” inspired by their calls.
Sanriku's islands provide important seabird breeding grounds for species including streaked shearwaters and several storm petrels.
Beneath Sanriku's waters, eelgrass and seaweed beds provide habitat for fish, sea urchins, abalone and other marine life.
Japan's first discovered dinosaur fossil, Moshiryū, was found in the Sanriku region, along with fossils of ancient marine reptiles.
Sanriku fishermen traditionally used small sappa-bune boats to work rocky waters. Today, some fishermen take visitors beneath the cliffs.
Sanriku communities once boiled seawater into salt and traded it inland for rice that was difficult to grow along the cool northern coast.
Ōsuka Coast has about 2.3 km of sandy beach and is known for “singing sand,” which can make sounds beneath your feet.
At Goishi Coast, Pacific waves carved three openings through Anatoshi-iso rock. Small boats can even pass through them.
Sanriku fishermen practiced yama-ate, using the alignment of mountains and other landmarks to determine their position while at sea.
The Michinoku Shiokaze Trail follows Tōhoku's Pacific coast for more than 1,000 km, connecting Hachinohe with Sōma.
The Michinoku Shiokaze Trail passes working ports, farms, villages, shrines, temples, tsunami remains and enormous seawalls.
At Nakanohama, remains of a campground hit by a tsunami over 15 meters high are preserved to help visitors understand the disaster.
At the Kamaishi Festival, decorated boats and traditional tiger dances express the fishing community’s hopes for safety and prosperity.
At Kosode Coast, ama divers are known for harvesting sea urchins by breath-hold diving, a living tradition visitors may see in summer.
Kabushima Shrine honors Benzaiten and has long been associated with prayers for safe fishing and prosperity.
Sanriku oyster huts, called kaki-goya, serve local oysters steamed in their shells, turning aquaculture into a memorable meal.
The region preserves coastal performing arts such as Kuromori Kagura, connecting local festivals with generations of community life.
