The rhyolite spires are 44 million years old; a monk called them ‘Pure Land’ in 1680.
Spires of white rhyolite, pointed and packed close like teeth, rise from the sea against the green of the pines and the blue of the bay: the contrast that in the seventeenth century led a monk from the nearby Jōan-ji temple to say that the place looked like the Pure Land of the Buddhist paradise, hence the name. A path runs along the bay to beaches where you can swim in summer, and an open boat tours among the rocks, leaving from the pier.
Bay on the Miyako coast, in the Sanriku Reconstruction National Park, formed of silica-rich volcanic rhyolites dating back about 44 million years, with magma flow structures and columnar joints from rapid cooling. A prefectural natural beauty reserve from 1954, it has been a national Place of Scenic Beauty (名勝) since 2012 and became part of the Sanriku Geopark in 2013.
ℹ️ Always accessible and free. By bus from Miyako: 20 minutes to the Oku-Jōdogahama bus stop, or 13 minutes to Jōdogahama Visitor Center plus 15 minutes on foot. By car, 10 minutes from JR Miyako Station to the car parks (about 350–400 spaces); from April to October the internal road is closed to private cars, except with a permit for people with mobility difficulties.
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