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Saikai NPKujukushima, Nagasaki
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Near Wakamatsu Port, the Kirishitan Cave sheltered 3 families (12 people) fleeing the 1868 Gotō Persecution. Cooking smoke exposed them; a cross now marks the entrance, where about 100 worshippers gather for Mass each November.
Look for dark rings on the Seto: they’re pens where bluefin tuna are raised for 3–4 years and fed mackerel caught in nearby Goto waters. The fast-flowing sea helps produce the firm, finely textured fish served locally.
Wakamatsu Seto’s currents can reach 6 knots. Researchers measured them directly in 2010 while investigating tidal-power sites, and found the strong flow made the strait a promising candidate for generating electricity.
The waters around Kode Island, Katashio and Harinomendo are protected marine-park areas. Beneath the surface live branching and brain corals, soft corals, damselfish, cardinalfish and wrasses—a lively world below the scenic strait.
Wakamatsu Bridge is 522 m long and crosses currents that can reach 6 knots. Construction began in 1981, and the truss bridge opened in 1991, linking Nakadōri Island and Wakamatsu Island by road.
Wakamatsu fishers farm more than yellowtail and bluefin tuna: the Seto also supports Akoya pearl oysters, colorful Hiogi scallops and other oysters. One island community’s fast-flowing sea helps supply both seafood and pearls.
Wakamatsu Seto stretches about 15 km between Nakadōri and Wakamatsu islands, with roughly 30 smaller islands scattered among its inlets. Its winding ria coastline is a landscape of drowned valleys, not just a narrow channel.
