(''lit.'' 'Pure Land Beach') is a series of rock formations along the coast of

Miyako Bay is a bay in Iwate Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It is a long and narrow, roughly triangular body of water extending southwest to northeast where it opens to the Pacific Ocean. The forms its southern border and fo ...

in the city of Miyako,

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

of northern

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 area is part of the Sanriku Fukkō National Park, and is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty.

Overview

The area consists of groups of

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

period

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

formations in a sandy beach area, which have been weathered by wind and rains into fantastic shapes. Together with

Japanese red pine ''Pinus densiflora'', also called the Japanese red pine, the Japanese pine, or Korean red pine, is a species of pine tree native to East Asia. Distribution and habitat ''P. densiflora'' has a home range that includes Japan, the Korean Peninsula, ...

trees, the rocks form a natural version of a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

. The rock formations have inspired many fanciful names, and by the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

has been identified in popular imagination with various landscape features of the Buddhist Western Paradise. The name of "Jōdogahama" was coined by a Sōtō

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

priest who toured the area in the

Tenna was a after ''Enpō'' and before '' Jōkyō.'' This period spanned the years from September 1681 through February 1684. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * '': The new era name of ''Tenna'' (meaning "Heavenly Imperial Peace") was creat ...

era (1681–1684), and this name appears in the official records of

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū, ...

under the rule of

Nanbu Toshitaka was a mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 10th ''daimyō'' of Morioka Domain in northern Japan. He was the 36th hereditary chieftain of the Nanbu clan. His courtesy title was ''Daizen-no-daifu'', and his Court rank was Junior 4th Rank, Lo ...

in 1797. The area was also popularised by the works of

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social act ...

in 1917. Formerly part of the Rikuchū Kaigan National Park from its formation in May 1955,the area was incorporated into the Sanriku Fukkō National Park after 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 ...

Gallery

浄土ヶ浜 - panoramio - くろふね.jpg 浄土ヶ浜 - panoramio (7).jpg Jyoudo9.jpg

References

Beaches of Japan Landforms of Iwate Prefecture Places of Scenic Beauty Miyako, Iwate Tourist attractions in Iwate Prefecture IUCN Category III {{Iwate-geo-stub

Overview

Gallery

See also

References