is the remote northeastern cape of the

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 ...

ese island of

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 separa ...

, stretching out towards

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 ...

Overview

It is bordered by 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 ...

to the east,

Tsugaru Strait The is a strait between Honshu and Hokkaido in northern Japan connecting the Sea of Japan with the Pacific Ocean. It was named after the western part of Aomori Prefecture. The Seikan Tunnel passes under it at its narrowest point 12.1 miles (1 ...

to the north and

Mutsu Bay is a bay located within Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It has an east-west distance of approximately and a north-south distance of approximately at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately . ...

to the west and south. Shaped like an axe pointing west, the peninsula has a thin "axe handle" connecting the mountainous "axe blade" to the mainland of Honshū to the south. The peninsula contains the northernmost point on Honshū,

Cape Ōma is the northernmost point of the island of Honshu in Japan. It is located within the borders of the town of Ōma, Aomori in northern Shimokita Peninsula, and is part of the Shimokita Hantō Quasi-National Park. The cape extends into the Tsugaru St ...

, and the largest

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

s in Japan (the

Sarugamori Sand Dunes is a large area of sand dunes located to the east of the village of Higashidōri in northeastern Aomori Prefecture, facing the Pacific Ocean. They are also known as the because of their location on Shimokita Peninsula. Measuring approximately l ...

). The peninsula owes its name to its being the lower (''shimo'') portion of the former Kita District (North District) of

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

before the premodern province was divided in 1868. Administratively the area is a part of

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

, and the bulk of the area falls within the jurisdiction of the city of Mutsu, with a number of small towns and villages along the periphery. Most of the inhabitants live in coastal areas rather than the mountainous interior. Portions of the peninsula are within the borders of

Shimokita Hantō Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of far northern Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park, consists of several discontinuous l ...

, including

, the coastline of the village of Sai to the south, including seaside cliffs said to resemble Buddhas at

Hotokegaura is a series of rock formations along the sea cliffs on the west coast of Shimokita Peninsula at the entrance to Mutsu Bay in far northern Japan. These rock formations were designed a Natural Monument of Aomori Prefecture in 1934, and became furth ...

Cape Shiriya is a headland on the northerneastern point of the island of Honshu in Japan. It is located within the borders of the town of Higashidōri, Aomori in northern Shimokita Peninsula, and is part of the Shimokita Hantō Quasi-National Park. The cape ...

to the northeast, and the volcanic interior of the peninsula, including

Mount Osore is the name of a Buddhist temple and folk religion pilgrimage destination in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. The temple is located in the caldera of an active volca ...

and

Lake Usori is a volcanic crater lake in northern Honshū island, Japan. It is also referred to as . Located in the Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, it is within the borders of the city of Mutsu and Shimokita Hanto Quasi-National Park. Lake Us ...

. Tourist attractions include

Yagen Valley is a hot spring located in the former town of Ohata, which is now part of the city of Mutsu in northern Japan. Description The onsen consists of multiple ryokan surrounded by old growth forests located along the Ohata River within Shimokit ...

, known for its

hot springs A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

. Economically, the mainstays of the local economy are

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

, forestry, and seasonal tourism. The main commercial centre is the city of Mutsu. The village of

Rokkasho is a village in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 10,200, and a population density of 40 persons per km², in 4,855 households. The total area of the village is . Geography Rokkasho occupies the eastern coa ...

, at the southern end of Shimokita Peninsula, home to a range of nuclear facilities. In 2012, Japan set a new world record for ocean drilling depth, reaching 2,111 meters below the seafloor off Shimokita Peninsula. Since the

Eemian The Eemian (also called the last interglacial, Sangamonian, Sangamonian Stage, Ipswichian, Mikulin, Kaydaky, penultimate,NOAA - Penultimate Interglacial Period http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/global-warming/penultimate-interglacial-period Valdivia or Ri ...

interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...

some 125,000 years ago the coast of the eastern tip of the peninsula has been uplifted on average 0.14–0.25 meters every thousand years (m/kyr). Slightly to the west the a north-facing sandy coast has uplift rates of 0.14–0.23 m/kyr for the same period. Further to the west, on top of the trace line of the volcanic front rates over the same period are in the order of 0.09–0.18 m/kyr. This uplift is related to the activity of offshore

geological fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

s that has bended

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

into an

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

. This peninsula is also called "Axe Peninsula" from the shape.

External links

* * * (Ōmazaki: Northernmost point) * (Shiriyazaki: North-eastern point)

References

{{Authority control Peninsulas of Japan Landforms of Aomori Prefecture Mutsu, Aomori Sai, Aomori Ōma Kazamaura

Higashidōri is a village located in Aomori, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 5,913 in 2829 households, and a population density of 20 persons per km² . Its total area is . Geography Higashidōri occupies the northeastern coastline of S ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Noheji is a town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 12,956, and a population density of 168 persons per km2 in 6,466 households. The total area of the town is . Geography Noheji occupies the southeastern coa ...

Overview

See also

External links

References