is a

cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...

on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, in

Chōshi Chōshi (, ) is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 59,174 in 27,160 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Geography Chōshi is located in the northeastern part ...

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The cape is near the midpoint of the

Japanese Archipelago The is an archipelago of list of islands of Japan, 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea, East China and Philippine Sea, Philippine seas in the southwest al ...

on the island of

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

Origin of name

The name of the cape is constructed from two Chinese characters, the first (犬) meaning "dog", and the second (吠) meaning "howling". Various traditions exist as to the origin of the name, one being that when

Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period, Heian and early Kamakura period, Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles that toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-br ...

's pet dog Wakamaru was left behind on the peninsula, he howled for seven days and nights. Another explanation is that the region was home to numerous

Japanese sea lion The Japanese sea lion (''Zalophus japonicus'') (, ) was an aquatic mammal that became extinct in the 1970s. It was considered to be a subspecies of the related California sea lion (''Z. californianus'') until 2003. They inhabited the western Nort ...

s, whose barking voice resembles that of a dog. The name may also be of ancient Ainu origin.

Geography

Cape Inubō is technically a small

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

, but is customarily referred to as a cape. While references exist to the Inubō Peninsula, the name has fallen out of use. An extensive marine cave exists in the reef areas under the lighthouse. The cape forms the easternmost point in Chiba Prefecture, close to the mouth of the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

. It is part of Suigo-Tsukuba Quasi-National Park.

Inubōsaki Lighthouse

Cape Inubō is noted for its Inubōsaki Lighthouse, built in 1874. It is notable as one of the few lighthouses whose original lens was a first order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections. The simpler Dioptrics, d ...

, the strongest type of Fresnel lens. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

In popular culture

Cape Inubō is mentioned in numerous literary works. Markers related to the poems of

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

author

Kyoshi Takahama was a Japanese poetry, Japanese poet active during the Shōwa period of Japan. His real name was ; Kyoshi was a pen name given to him by his mentor, Masaoka Shiki. Early life Kyoshi was born in what is now the city of Matsuyama, Ehime, Matsuyama ...

(1874 – 1959) and ''Naturalist'' tanka poet

Bokusui Wakayama was the pen-name of , a Japanese author noted for his poetry in pre-World War II Japan. Life Wakayama was born in Togo, Miyazaki, (now part of the city of Hyūga, Miyazaki, Hyūga) as the eldest son of a doctor. He became interested in poetry f ...

(1885 – 1928) are on the cape. Since 1958, the opening logo for

Toei Company , simply known as Toei Company or Toei, is a Japanese entertainment company. Headquartered in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo, it is involved in film and television production, distribution, video game development, publishing, and ownership of 34 movi ...

films features waves crashing over three rocks near Cape Inubō. As a homage to this, the 45th ''

Super Sentai The is a Japanese superhero team media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi. The shows are of the '' tokusatsu'' genre, featuring live action characters and colorfu ...

'' series, '' Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger'', features this particular shot of Cape Inubō in the background whenever Zenkaiser uses the Zenryoku Zenkai Cannon's main attack.

Transport

The cape is 10 minutes by foot from the Inuboh Station of the Chōshi Electric Railway Line, or 20 minutes by bus from the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Chōshi Station. File:Inubozaki lighthouse 002.jpg, Inubōsaki Lighthouse File:Inubouzki_lighthouse_2008.jpg, Inubōsaki Lighthouse

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Inubo Inubo Tourist attractions in Chiba Prefecture Landforms of Chiba Prefecture Chōshi