The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

from the coast of

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

in central

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

, the main island of

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 n ...

. The main industries of the peninsula are agriculture, fisheries, and tourism.

Name

According to

Alexander Vovin Alexander (Sasha) Vladimirovich Vovin (russian: Александр Владимирович Вовин; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Ad ...

, the name is derived from

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 ...

'cape' or 'big cape'. It is written with two ''

ateji In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji use ...

'' (''ad hoc'' kanji used for an unrelated word): 能 ''nō'' 'ability' and 登 ''tō/to'' 'ascend'.

Area and spots

Three regions

The area of the Noto Peninsula is divided into 3 regions. ;Kuchi-Noto (Entrance of Noto):South part of the area. Hakui City, Kahoku City, Hōdatsu-shimizu Town, Shika Town ;Naka-Noto (Middle of Noto):Middle part of the area. Nanao City, Wakura Onsen Resort, Naka-Noto Town, Tatsuruhama ;Oku-Noto (Deep Noto or North Noto):North part of the area. Wajima City, Suzu City, Noto Town, Anamizu Town, Noto Island

Notable spots

;Wakura

Onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

:Located in Nanao City, this onsen (or "hot springs") is a famous health resort. The JR Nanao Line also terminates here. ;Keta Great Shrine:Located in Hakui City and well known as a shrine for finding a lover and for a good marriage. ;Wajima Morning Market: This market is held in the center of Wajima City. Shoppers can buy a variety of fresh fish and vegetables cheaply. ;Soji Temple:located in Monzen Town, is a head temple of

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh� ...

Zen Buddhism. Here there are also older cathedrals, as well as a newer one located in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kanag ...

. ;Mitsuke Jima: Meaning "found island" it is located in Suzu City. The name comes from the legend in which Saint Kukai found his magic stick here. ;Unoke:Located in Kahoku City, the first office computer in Japan was manufactured by Unoke Electronics (now PFU), which was established in this town. ;Anamizu:Known as one of the places where

Percival Lowell Percival Lowell (; March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of a ninth planet within the Solar System. ...

made a stay during his visit to Japan, a memorial hall dedicated to him stands on a small hill near Anamizu Bay.

In film

The Noto Peninsula features prominently in the Japanese

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...

Zero Focus is a 1961 Japanese mystery film directed by Yoshitaro Nomura and is based on a novel by Seicho Matsumoto. Plot One week into newlywed Teiko Uhara's marriage, her husband, ad agency manager Kenichi, leaves on a short business trip to Kanazawa a ...

'' (''Zero no Shoten'', 1961), directed by Yoshitaro Nomura. The film features breathtaking footage of the peninsula's coast, along with an interesting dissection of the area's social distinctions. Noto Peninsula is also the setting of

Hirokazu Koreeda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

's second film ''

Maborosi ''Maborosi'', known in Japan as , is a 1995 Japanese drama film by director Hirokazu Kore-eda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano, and Takashi Naito. It is based on a novel by Teru Miyamoto. The film won a Golden Osella Award for Best Cinemato ...

'' (1995) and

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from J ...

's final film ''

Warm Water Under a Red Bridge Warm, WARM, or Warmth may refer to: * A somewhat high temperature * Kindness Music * ''Warm'' (The Lettermen album), 1967, and the title song * ''Warm'' (Johnny Mathis album), 1958, and the title song * ''Warm'' (Herb Alpert album), 1969 * '' ...

'' (''Akai Hashi no Shita no Nurui Mizu'', 2001). Suzu, the city located at the tip of the Noto Peninsula is the setting for the 2014 film Saihate Nite.

Transportation

; JR Nanao Line comes from

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もて� ...

to Wakura Onsen Station via Unoke, Hakui, Nanao. ; Noto Railway: Small local railway from Wakura to Anamizu. ; Noto Airport: Located between Anamizu and Wajima. Air line to Tokyo International Airport. ;Noto Satoyama Kaido: Stretches from Kanazawa to Anamizu Town. ;No-etu Expressway (partly opened): Comes from Oyabe ( Toyama) to Wajima via Nanao and Noto Airport. ;Suzu Road: A free elongation of the Noto Tollway, from Anamizu to Suzu. ;Route 249: National road that stretches around the Noto Peninsula.

Products

;Wajima-nuri:Famous for beautiful

Japanese lacquerware is a Japanese craft with a wide range of fine and decorative arts, as lacquer has been used in '' urushi-e'', prints, and on a wide variety of objects from Buddha statues to ''bento'' boxes for food. The characteristic of Japanese lacquerwar ...

produced around Wajima City. ;Ishiri:A special fish sauce used for local dishes. ;Kan-buri: A fish (

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 greatly ...

) that is eaten in winter. Yellowtails are called by different names as they grow. In Noto, they are called "Kozokura" -> "Fukuragi" -> "Ganto" -> "Buri". ;Sweet Potato Candy: There are many confectioners of this cake located in Deep Noto. ;Sea Salt: Noto is the only region in Japan to still produce salt using the Agehama method of salt manufacture, where sea water is brought up in buckets from the ocean to salt fields.

Events

On March 25, 2007, the 2007 Noto earthquake shook the peninsula, causing one death and at least 170 injuries.

Heritage designation

The Noto Peninsula was designated as a part of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan) in 2011.

References

{{Authority control Peninsulas of Japan Landforms of Ishikawa Prefecture