is a sandy beach that occupies much of the northeast coast of the Bōsō Peninsula in

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 ...

. Kujūkuri Beach is a popular

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

destination for inhabitants of Greater Tokyo. The beach is protected as part of Kujūkuri Prefectural Natural Park. The beach is approximately long, making it the second longest beach in Japan.

Geography

Kujūkuri Beach extends in the shape of an arc from Cape Gyōbumi in

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

to the north to Cape Taitō in Isumi,

to the south. The beach is relatively straight, in contrast to the typically irregular coastlines of Japan. The tides and the

Kuroshio Current The , also known as the Black Current or is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

create sand deposits along the length of the beach which form

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, flat ...

s of to . Kujūkuri Beach has no reef. The coastal region of the beach is the north-eastern end of

influence in Japan.

Municipalities

Kujūkuri Beach extends across ten municipalities in Chiba Prefecture. They include: *

* Sōsa * Yokoshibahikari * Sanmu * Kujūkuri * Ōamishirasato * Shirako * Chōsei * Ichinomiya * Isumi

Etymology

"Kujūkurihama" literally means "ninety nine ''ri'' (sandy) beach."

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

was thought to order the measurement of the beach, and 99 arrows were stuck on the sand—one every ri. The unit "ri" was then 6 chō (approx. 660 m), but later the ri extended to 36 chō (ca. 3.9 km). The short ri of 6 chō has long been forgotten or not in use, thus today many believe and explain incorrectly that 99 is just an inference of its long distance. The actual length of the beach is approximately 66 km, making the original measurement by Minamoto no Yoritomo an accurate one.

History

In the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

(1603 – 1868) a new

fishing net A fishing net or fish net is a net (device), net used for fishing. Fishing nets work by serving as an improvised fish trap, and some are indeed rigged as traps (e.g. #Fyke nets, fyke nets). They are usually wide open when deployed (e.g. by cast ...

technology was brought from

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

, a province that covered present-day

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

, as well as the southern part of

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

Seine fishing Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...

was introduced via trade maritime routes along the Kuroshio Current. Seine fishing, whereby a fishing net hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights, its top edge is buoyed by floats, and is held by fishermen or boats at either end. The introduction of seines allowed for the large-scale fishing of

sardine Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it com ...

s in the region. Kujūkuri Beach became a noted center for the production of ''hoshika'', or dried sardines. After the beginning of the

Meiji period The was 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 colonizatio ...

in the 19th century motorboats were used to support the net. In the last days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Allied forces planned to land on Kujūkuri Beach in Operation Coronet. Japan's failure to complete the beach's defences on schedule contributed to Emperor

Hirohito , Posthumous name, posthumously honored as , was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, from 25 December 1926 until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death in 1989. He remains Japan's longest-reigni ...

's decision to surrender. Kujūkuri has been a major location regarding Japanese

, particularly at Taito Beach. The inaugural tournament of surfing at the Olympics happened in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

at Tsurigasaki Beach, located at the southern end of the beach in Ichinomiya.

Flora and fauna

A northern species

chum salmon The chum salmon (''Oncorhynchus keta''), also known as dog salmon or keta salmon, is a species of anadromous salmonid fish from the genus ''Oncorhynchus'' (Pacific salmon) native to the coastal rivers of the North Pacific and the Beringian Arctic ...

returns to a river of the beach every year, the southernmost in Japan. According to a programme of

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, Kujūkuri is the best place in Japan to observe the sanderling. These tiny birds can be seen on most spring and autumn days following the ebb and flow of the waves at amazing speeds in search of food. Kujūkuri Beach is a noted area for

fishing. Japanese black pines have been planted along the length of the beach to prevent erosion.

In popular culture

The song ''Omoide no Kujukurihama'' (''Kujukuri Beach of Memories''), by girl group Mi-Ke, peaked at #5 on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

and 32 overall on the Japanese record charts in 1991, and was the theme song for the melodrama ''Nurse Station'' on TBS. It has been covered numerous times by other performers.

References

External links

Kujukuri Beach Area Tourist Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kujukuri Beach Beaches of Japan Tourist attractions in Chiba Prefecture Landforms of Chiba Prefecture