is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

on the east coast of

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, Japan, with its northwestern base in

Shibetsu is a city located in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of September 2016, the city has an estimated population of 19,794 and the density of 18 persons per km2. The total area is 1119.29 km2. On September 1, 2005, the town of ...

and southeast tip in

Betsukai is a town located in Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido, 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 S ...

. The name is derived from the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

for

jawbone In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...

, ''notkeu'' (ノッケウ), purportedly due to the landform's visual resemblance to that of a whale. The curved peninsula, the longest sandspit in the country, with a length of some to , extends into the

Nemuro Strait Nemuro Strait, also called Notsuke Strait and Kunashirsky Strait (russian: Кунаширский пролив), is a strait, located at , separating Kunashir Island of the Kuril Islands, Russia ( claimed by Japan) from the Shiretoko Peninsula, Hokk ...

, which lies between

Shiretoko Peninsula is located on the easternmost portion of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, protruding into the Sea of Okhotsk. It is separated from Kunashir Island, which is now occupied by Russia, by the Nemuro Strait. The name Shiretoko is derived from the ...

Nemuro Peninsula The Nemuro Peninsula (根室半島 ''Nemuro-hantō'') is a peninsula which extends from the east coast of Hokkaidō, Japan. It is some long and wide, and forms part of Nemuro City. Cape Nosappu at its tip is the easternmost point of Hokkaidō. ...

, and the

disputed Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

island of

Kunashiri , other_names = kz, Kün Ashyr; ja, 国後島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , locator_map = File:Kurily Kunashir.svg , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area = , length = , width = fr ...

in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

; it was formed by the deposition of sand

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

carried by the currents in the strait, and itself forms and largely encloses

Notsuke Bay is a shallow bay in eastern Hokkaido, Japan, separated from Nemuro Bay and the Sea of Okhotsk by the curving Notsuke Peninsula. The bay mouth has a width of some and a maximum depth of ; most of the area of the bay has a depth of less than , m ...

. There remain on the peninsula traces of

Satsumon culture The is a partially agricultural, archeological culture of northern Honshu and southern Hokkaido (700–1200 CE) that has been identified as Emishi, as a Japanese-Emishi mixed culture, as the incipient modern Ainu, or with all three synonymously. ...

pit dwellings, while during the

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 ...

samurai were stationed at a checkpoint controlling the crossing to Kunashiri. It is said that from the Edo period to the beginning of the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

there was a settlement known as at the tip of the peninsula, with streets lined with samurai residences and even pleasure quarters, but this is not shown on contemporary maps and is poorly attested in the literature. Prominent features today include withered and eroded stretches of

Sakhalin fir ''Abies sachalinensis'', the Sakhalin fir, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It is found in Sakhalin island and southern Kurils (Russia), and also in northern Hokkaido ( Japan). The first discovery by a European was by Carl Fri ...

(''Abies sachalinensis'') at and

Mongolian oak ''Quercus mongolica'', commonly known as Mongolian oak, is a species of oak native to Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia. The species can grow to be tall. The flavono-ellagitannin The Flavono-ellagitannins or complex tannins are a cla ...

(''Quercus crispula'') at , while to be found in the Notsuke Peninsula Primeval Flower Garden near Notsukezaki Lighthouse towards the eastern tip are the Kamchatka lily,

Japanese iris The term "Japanese iris" encompasses three species of Irises cultivated in gardens or growing wild in Japan: ''hanashōbu'' (''Iris ensata''), ''kakitsubata'' ('' Iris laevigata'') and ''ayame'' (''Iris sanguinea''). Of these three species, ''I. ...

sea pea ''Lathyrus japonicus'', the sea pea, beach pea, circumpolar pea or sea vetchling, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, native to temperate coastal areas of the Northern Hemisphere and Argentina. It is a herbaceous per ...

, ''

Rosa rugosa ''Rosa rugosa'' (rugosa rose, beach rose, Japanese rose, Ramanas rose, or letchberry) is a species of rose native to eastern Asia, in northeastern China, Japan, Korea and southeastern Siberia, where it grows on beach coasts, often on sand dunes. ...

'', ''

Eriophorum vaginatum ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bog ha ...

'', and . The c. stretch of from the base of the peninsula to the nature centre is commonly known as the . Together with Notsuke Bay, Notsuke Peninsula has been designated a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Special Wildlife Protection Area, and an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

, and forms part of

Notsuke-Fūren Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in eastern Hokkaidō, Japan. Established in 1962, the park spans the municipalities of Betsukai, Nemuro, and Shibetsu. The park comprises two principal areas, the and Lake Furen. See also * National Parks of Japan ...

References

{{Authority control Peninsulas of Japan Landforms of Hokkaido Betsukai, Hokkaido Shibetsu, Hokkaido (town) Ramsar sites in Japan