is a

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

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 ...

. It is composed of Kirishima-Kagoshima Bay, an area of

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

and

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Ku ...

known for its active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

es, volcanic lakes, and

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 ...

. The total area is .

History

On March 16, 1934, it was first established as Kirishima-Yaku National Park. On March 16, 2012

Yakushima is one of the Ōsumi Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of 13,178. Access to the island is by hydrofoil ferry (7 or 8 times a day from Kagoshima, depending on the season), slow car ferry (once or twic ...

was split of as the separate

Yakushima National Park is a protected area located in Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu. It includes parts of the Ōsumi Islands with Yakushima, the entire island Kuchinoerabu-jima and some surrounding marine areas. The total size is . The national park was established o ...

and Kirishima-Yaku National Park was renamed to Kirishima-Kinkowan National Park. The area become famous as Japan's first honeymoon spot, because Ryoma Sakamoto took his wife Oryo there. Kirishima was used as a filming location for the 1967 James Bond movie '' You Only Live Twice''.

Kirishima

Mount Kirishima are a 1700 meter high active volcano group in Kagoshima Prefecture and Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Numerous eruptions have been recorded since 742. Very strong eruptions happened in 788, 1716 and The Great Snow of 1717, 1717. Augite-h ...

* Ebino-kōgen * Takachiho-kawara * Lake Miike * Mount Kurino *

Mount Karakuni or Mount Karakuni (1,700m) is a volcano in Kagoshima and Miyazaki Prefectures, Japan. It is part of Kirishima-Yaku National Park. Name Karakunidake was named as such from two accounts before the Edo period: the first of which referred to ...

* Mount Takachiho *

Cape Sata Cape Sata (佐多岬, ''Sata Misaki'') is a cape at the southern tip of the Ōsumi Peninsula of Kyūshū island, Japan, and is the southernmost point of the island, just south of 31 degrees latitude. Cape Sata is home to a lighthouse built ...

* Sakura-jima *

Mount Kaimon , or Mount Kaimon, is an undissected volcano – consisting of a basal stratovolcano and a small complex central lava dome – which rises to a height of 924 metres above sea level near the city of Ibusuki in southern Kyūshū, Japan. The last er ...

Lake Ikeda is a caldera lake located 40 km south of Kagoshima city; Kyūshū island, Japan. It is perhaps best known to tourists as the location of the purported sightings of a monster named Issie, and as the largest lake on Kyūshū island with a s ...

Major scenic spots

Kirishima area File:Kirishima_Karakunidake_2.jpg,

File:Ebino_Plateau.jpg, Ebino Plateau Kagoshima Bay area File:Sakurajima55.jpg,

Sakurajima Sakurajima ( ja, 桜島, literally "Cherry Blossom Island") is an active stratovolcano, formerly an island and now a peninsula, in Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, Japan. The lava flows of the 1914 eruption connected it with the Ōsumi Peninsul ...

File:Satamisaki Park View Kagoshima001.JPG,

File:Sakura-jima from space.jpg,

Aira Caldera Aira Caldera is a gigantic volcanic caldera that is located on the southern end of Kyushu, Japan. It is believed to have been formed about 30,000 years ago with a succession of pyroclastic surges. It is currently the place of residence to over 9 ...

spreading in the north of Kagoshima File:Aerial Photo of Ikedako.jpg,

File:Unagiike Kagoshima Japan.jpg, Aerial photo of Unagiike (1974) File:Kaimondake 2005 3 19.jpg, Kaimondake volcano

Related municipalities

Miyakonojō is a city in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1924. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 161,137, with 70,549 households and a population density of 247 per km2. The total area is 653.36 km2 ...

* Kobayashi * Ebino *

Takaharu is a town located in Nishimorokata District, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2020, the town has a population of 8,646 and the population density of 101.3 persons per km². The total area is 85.39 km². Geography Surr ...

Kagoshima, Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern world ...

* Ibusuki * Tarumizu * Kirishima * Yūsui * Minamiōsumi

References

External links

Map of Area 1 (Mt Kirishima)

Map of Area 2 (Kagoshima Bay)
{{authority control National parks of Japan Parks and gardens in Kagoshima Prefecture Parks and gardens in Miyazaki Prefecture Protected areas established in 1934