Tōjinbō
Interesting facts
- Columnar andesite on this scale is said to occur in only three places in the world, which is why the cliffs are prized by geologists.
- The rock formed when magma forced its way into layers of sedimentary rock and cooled underground, later laid bare by the waves of the Sea of Japan.
- In 2007 Tōjinbō was chosen as one of Japan's 100 notable geological sites.
- The tallest sheer drop, about 25 metres, encloses an inlet called Ōike, into which the sightseeing boats nose their way.
- Individual rocks carry names such as Candle Rock, Lion Rock, Honeycomb Rock, Three-Step Rock and Senjōjiki, 'a thousand tatami mats'.
- According to legend, the monk who pushed Tōjinbō was his rival in love for a beautiful princess, and afterwards the sea raged for 49 days.
- At Heisen-ji in Katsuyama, the temple the legendary monk came from, a site is still pointed out as the remains of Tōjinbō's dwelling.
- Tōjinbō Tower, a 55-metre observation tower completed in 1964, looks out over the cliffs towards Cape Echizen and Mount Hakusan.
- A coastal path of about 4 km is lined with stones carved with poems by writers linked to Mikuni, among them the haiku master Takahama Kyoshi.
- The cliffs appear in the ninth film of the beloved 'Tora-san' series, 'Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Shibamata Bojō'.
Why it is worth it
Tōjinbō is a kilometre of coast on the Sea of Japan where the land ends in giant stone pillars. The cliffs, about 30 metres high on average, are made of pyroxene andesite that cooled 12 to 13 million years ago, in the Miocene, and cracked as it cooled into tightly packed five- and six-sided columns. Winter storms from the sea have prised them apart into towers, gullies and deep chasms, so that the cliff face looks like a bundle of organ pipes lashed by the waves. Up close, the rock shows crystals of plagioclase, augite and enstatite. In 1935 the site was designated both a Natural Monument and a Place of Scenic Beauty of Japan.
The name comes from a legend. Local tradition holds that Tōjinbō was a strong and violent Buddhist monk who was hated for his crimes; in 1182 his fellow monks took him on an outing to the cliffs, got him drunk and pushed him into the sea. His angry spirit, so the story goes, raised a storm on the anniversary every year, until a priest held memorial rites to calm him.
A path runs along the top of the cliffs, and walking it gives a changing sequence of views down into the columns; at the far end a red footbridge crosses to the small wooded island of Oshima, with a shrine and more rock formations along its shore. To see the pillars from below, sightseeing boats leave from the cliff area and loop along the base, which shows how deeply the sea has cut into the joints.
Getting there
Tōjinbō is in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture, about 3 km from Mikuni. Komatsu Airport (KMQ) is 31 km away. The Echizen Railway runs from Fukui to Mikuni-Minato Station in about 50 minutes, from where an hourly bus reaches the cliffs in five minutes; hourly buses also run from JR Awara-Onsen Station, taking about 40 minutes.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Tōjinbō (東尋坊) is a series of cliffs on the Sea of Japan in Japan made from columnar joints of pyroxene andesite. It is located in the Antō part of Mikuni-chō in Sakai, Fukui Prefecture. The cliffs average 30 metres (98 ft) in height and stretch for 1 km (3,281 ft). The site has been protected from 1935 as a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument, It has been developed as a tourist destination, with walking trails, sightseeing boats, an observation tower, and a shopping arcade. The area is part of the Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Quasi-National Park.
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