is a

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

at the southeastern tip of the Japanese island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

, in the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Muroto,

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

. Extending into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and situated in within

Muroto-Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park is a Quasi-National Park on the coast of Kōchi Prefecture and Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. It was founded on 1 June 1964 and has an area of . See also * List of national parks of Japan and in Japan are places of scenic beauty designated ...

, the cape has been

designated Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's i ...

a Place of Scenic Beauty and the local vegetation a

Natural Monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

, while the ''Sound of the Waves at Cape Muroto and '' is among the

100 Soundscapes of Japan In 1996, as part of its efforts to combat noise pollution and to protect and promote protection of the environment, the Ministry of the Environment designated the . There were 738 submissions received from all over the country and the 100 "best" we ...

Cultural features

On the summit overlooking the cape is Hotsumisaki-ji, the twenty-fourth temple on the

Shikoku Pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long histor ...

, as well as , which started operating in 1899, and a statue of

Nakaoka Shintarō was a samurai in Bakumatsu period Japan, and a close associate of Sakamoto Ryōma in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate.National Diet Library (NDL), Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures Nakaoka, Shintaro/ref> Biography ...

Geology

Due to the

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

of the

Philippine Sea Plate The Philippine Sea Plate or the Philippine Plate is a tectonic plate comprising oceanic lithosphere that lies beneath the Philippine Sea, to the east of the Philippines. Most segments of the Philippines, including northern Luzon, are part of ...

beneath the

Eurasian Plate The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...

in the

Nankai Trough The is a submarine trough located south of the Nankaidō region of Japan's island of Honshu, extending approximately offshore. The underlying fault, the ''Nankai megathrust,'' is the source of the devastating Nankai megathrust earthquakes, wh ...

, some off the cape, the land around the cape is being

uplifted ''Uplifted'' is the second studio album by Nigerian singer Flavour N'abania. It was released on July 20, 2010, by Obaino Music and 2nite Entertainment. The album features guest appearances from Jay Dey, Oloye, Stormrex, Waga Gee, Asemstone, M-Jay, ...

at a rate of to per millennium, at the top end of the world's uplift rates.

Fauna

Birds observed in the vicinity of the cape include the

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and

blue rock thrush The blue rock thrush (''Monticola solitarius'') is a species of chat. This thrush-like Old World flycatcher was formerly placed in the family Turdidae. It breeds in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and from Central Asia to northern China and M ...

. Marine life in the waters offshore includes the

Japanese amberjack The Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, ''Seriola quinqueradiata'', is a species of jack fish in the family Carangidae. It is native to the northwest Pacific Ocean, ranging from China (called ), Korea (called ), and Japan to Hawaii. It is greatl ...

Japanese anchovy The Japanese anchovy (''Engraulis japonicus'') is a schooling fish of the family Engraulidae. It is common in the Pacific Ocean south from the Sea of Okhotsk, widespread in the Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea, and near the coasts of ...

, Japanese barramundi, Japanese jack mackerel, Japanese mackerel, Japanese pilchard,

Pacific mackerel The blue mackerel (''Scomber australasicus''), also called Japanese mackerel, Pacific mackerel, slimy mackerel or spotted chub mackerel, is a fish of the family Scombridae, found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific Ocean from Japa ...

Blackfin seabass The blackfin seabass (''Lateolabrax latus'') is a Perciforme fish in the family lateolabracidae, found primarily in the shallow waters of the Pacific coast of Asia, in Japan and in South Korea. There are only two species in the genus Lateolabrax, ...

, three-line grunt, and

spear squid ''Heterololigo'' is a monotypic genus of squids containing the single species ''Heterololigo bleekeri''. It was formerly classified in the genus ''Loligo''; some authors still include it there, but DNA evidence supports its separation into a genu ...

Access

* Kochi Tobu Kotsu ** For Toyo・

Kannoura Station is a railway station on the Asatō Line in Tōyō, Aki District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the third sector Asa Kaigan Railway and bears the station number "TK30". DMV commenced operation from 2021, so this station has bec ...

** For Muroto・

Nahari Station is a passenger railway station located in the town of Nahari, Kōchi, Nahari, Aki District, Kōchi, Aki District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the public-private partnership, third-sector Tosa Kuroshio Railway with the station nu ...

・ Yasuda・

Aki Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Aki, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the third-sector Tosa Kuroshio Railway with the station number "GN27". Lines The station is served by the Asa Line and is located 27.7&nbs ...

・ Aki Office * Tokushima Bus ** For Maiko Bus stop・

Namba Station is a name shared by two railway stations in the Namba district of Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. One is owned by Nankai Electric Railway, while the other is by the Osaka Metro. The names of both stations are written in ''hiragana'' on signage within t ...

Asa Seaside Railway ASA as an abbreviation or initialism may refer to: Biology and medicine * Accessible surface area of a biomolecule, accessible to a solvent * Acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin * Advanced surface ablation, refractive eye surgery * Anterior spinal ...

(1 return on only holidays) ** For

Awa-Kainan Station is a junction passenger railway station located in the town of Kaiyō, Kaifu District, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan. It is operated jointly by JR Shikoku and the third-sector Asa Seaside Railway and has the station number "M27". Lines Awa-Ka ...

(extends to this station via Asato Line)

References

{{Reflist Muroto, Kōchi Landforms of Kōchi Prefecture Muroto Places of Scenic Beauty Natural monuments of Japan