is a cape on the Pacific Ocean, in the Iioka district of the city of Asahi, Chiba Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The cape is located at the very northern point of Kujūkuri Beach on the island of Honshu, and is protected as part of the

Suigō-Tsukuba Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Kantō region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. Geography Suigō-Tsukuba Quasi-National Park covers an area in southeast Ibaraki Prefecture and north ...

Geography

Cape Gyōbu is at the northernmost point of Kujūkuri Beach, 66 kilometers from Cape Taitō at its southern end. The cape is located on the southern side of the Chōshi Peninsula at the western end of the

Byōbugaura is an inlet on the northeast coast of Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders ...

inlet. The cliffs of the cape are primarily composed of sandstone and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

. Marine erosion is severe and continues due to the harshness of waves from the Pacific Ocean off the cape. The primary fishing port of Kujūkuri Beach, Iioka Fishing Port, is located just below the cape. The cape is surrounded by farmland.

Iioka Lighthouse

The Iioka Lighthouse, built in 1956, sits on top of a cliff on Cape Gyōbu. The white concrete structure stands 9.8 meters high. The lighthouse is visible up to 25 km out to sea. A

viewing platform An observation deck, observation platform, or viewing platform is an elevated sightseeing platform usually situated upon a tall architectural structure, such as a skyscraper or observation tower. Observation decks are sometimes enclosed ...

, named "Hikari to Kaze" (meaning "light and wind"), opened in 2001 adjacent to the lighthouse. In winter, weather permitting,

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...

is visible from the cape observatory. The observatory is open year-round. 屏風と展望館冬

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The fishing port and buildings at the base of Cape Gyōbu saw major damage as a result of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. The base of the cape was inundated by a tsunami, and a strong whirlpool developed in the inlet. Numerous ships, vehicles, and structures were damaged around Cape Gyōbu. In all, 7 people died, and 4 people were missing in the Iioka area as a result of the tsunami.

Cape Gyōbu in Film

* Shunji Iwai’s '' Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?'', 1993 * Takashi Yamazaki's ''

Juvenile Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood *Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...

'', 2000

Other

A stone statue of a character from the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

" Tomorrow's Joe" is located near Cape Gyōbu, an homage to the period when noted

artist

Tetsuya Chiba is a Japanese manga artist famous for his sports stories. Chiba's works include ''Ashita no Joe'', his best known work, and ''Notari Matsutarō''. Many of his early titles are still in print due to continued popularity. Life He was born in Ch ...

lived in Iioka.

Transportation

The cape is accessible by bus from the Sōbu Main Line Asahi Station, and is approximately 45 minutes on foot from the station.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Gyobu Gyobu Landforms of Chiba Prefecture