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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Iwate
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
From the lookout, the cliffs appear in 5 curving rows, like a giant folding screen. Each rises nearly 200 m, making this a dramatic natural “wall” with layers.
In 1965, author Akira Yoshimura visited Unosu while struggling for ideas. The sea and breaking waves inspired “Hoshi e no tabi” (“Journey to the Stars”), which won the Dazai Osamu Prize in 1966; a nearby monument marks the story.
The name Unosu comes from cormorants nesting halfway up the cliffs. The Environment Ministry also identifies the sheer rock faces as an important breeding place for peregrine falcons.
Unosu’s rocks formed about 140 million years ago, when ocean-floor material was squeezed onto a continental plate. Later uplift raised the land, helping shape the coastal terraces and cliffs seen today.
In early and midsummer, the cool, damp northeast wind called yamase can bring sea fog over Unosu. The same weather pattern has repeatedly contributed to poor harvests in the Tōhoku region.
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a Ministry of the Environment survey recorded cliff collapses and damaged pines along affected parts of Unosu. Yet the sea-cliff view from the lookout showed no visible change.
