Shichirimihama

photo by Kouchiumi at Japanese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by 米田賢一 · CC BY 3.0

25 km of sand and pebbles: the longest shoreline in Japan, with turtle nests.

Twenty-five kilometres of sand and pebbles run without a break from Kumano to Kihoku, by way of Mihama: the longest sand-and-pebble shoreline in Japan. From May to September loggerhead turtles nest here, and every 17 August, for 250–300 years, two boats have launched fireworks directly onto the water in front of the beach: a semicircular burst up to 600 metres wide, its echo amplified by the caves of nearby Onigajo.

A beach among the Hundred Beaches of Japan and the Hundred White Pine Groves of Japan; the Iseji route of the Kumano Kodo runs alongside it, and here, for a unique stretch, follows the coastline.

ℹ️ Open access at any point. For the Kumano Ōhanabi Taikai on 17 August, arrive well in advance: about 10,000 fireworks launched, tens of thousands of spectators along the beach.

🚉 Kumanoshi · 34 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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