270px, Shionomisaki Southernmost Point Park is a coastal

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Higashimuro District,

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 ...

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 town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 15,192 in 8354 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 110 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Kushimoto has the distinction of being the southernmost point of Japan's main island,

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 ...

. It is located at the southernmost tip of

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people wou ...

, with the urban area on the isthmus connecting Cape Shionomisaki with the mainland. The island of Kii Oshima is located on the east side of the city, and is connected by the Kushimoto Ohashi Bridge, which was completed in September 1999. Parts of the coastal area of the town are within the limits of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park and include the Hashiguiiwa Rocks, which are a National Natural Monument.

Neighboring municipalities

Wakayama Prefecture * Kozagawa, to the north * Nachikatsuura, to the east * Susami, to the west

Climate

Kushimoto has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kushimoto is 17.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2515 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 8.1 °C. Kushimoto has a very wet climate. The area is subject to

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s and the moist winds of 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 ...

in summer. Kushimoto is famous as the Typhoon Ginza (after

Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

). The wettest month was September 1929 with whilst in January 2010 the town received no rain for the second time since records began in 1913 and had the lowest monthly humidity on record at 47 percent. The heaviest daily rainfall was on 17 October 1939.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kushimoto has decreased steadily over the past 60 years. On April 1, 2005, Kushimoto absorbed the town of Koza, from Higashimuro District, to become the new town of Kushimoto.

History

The area of the modern city of Shingū was within ancient

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 ...

. During 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 ...

it was part of the holdings of

Kishū Domain The Kishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also referred to as Kii Domain or Wakayama Domain, was a feudal domain in Kii Province, Japan. This domain encompassed regions in present-day Wakayama and southern Mie Prefecture, Mie prefectures and ...

, under a cadet branch of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

, headquartered at Wakayama Castle. In 1791 the US captains John Kendrick of the '' Lady Washington'' and William Douglas of the ''Grace'' visited Kushimoto, hoping to open a trading relationship with Japan. However, they did not receive a warm reception. News was sent to Wakayama Castle, which sent troops. However, Kendrick and Douglas had departed two days before the troops arrived. The result of this first visit of Americans to Japan was largely symbolic for the United States. For Japan it resulted in a new system of alarms and coastal patrols, increasing Japan's isolation under ''

sakoku is the most common name for the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and almost all ...

''. Kushimoto village was established on April 1, 1889, within Nishimuro District, Wakayama with the creation of the modern municipalities system. On September 16, 1890, the Ertuğrul incident occurred, in which an Imperial

Ottoman Navy The Ottoman Navy () or the Imperial Navy (), also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later called Karamürsel ...

frigate on a goodwill visit to Japan floundered in a typhoon off of Kushimoto with great loss of life. Kushimoto was elevated to town status on November 12, 1907. Over the next decades, the town grew as a result of numerous mergers with the surrounding village, annexing Fujihashi in 1924, Arita, Shiono-Misaki, Tanami, and Wabuka in 1955 and Oshima in 1958. On April 1, 2005, Kushimoto merged with the town of Koza, from Higashimuro District. Due to its strong ties with the city of Shingū both for political and economic reasons, Kushimoto became part of Higashimuro District upon this merger. Being in a strategic location, Kushimoto was home to many military installations during

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 ...

, including the Kushimoto Seaplane Base and Shionomisaki Airfield. Both bases were attacked by the United States Navy and Air Force in 1945, including a naval bombardment on the night of 24/25 July. Shionomisaki Airfield now serves as a small base for the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. Kushimoto (or specifically, Cape Shionomisaki) was the epicenter of the Great Nankai earthquake, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake that struck the area on December 21, 1946, at 4:19am. This triggered a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

that enveloped the central part of town. Most of the Fujihashi neighborhood was destroyed but has since been rebuilt. There are memorials around town marking the event, including signposts indicating how far the tsunami had penetrated inland. Of the 269 casualties in Wakayama Prefecture, the majority were in Kushimoto and in the city of Kainan. On September 26, 1959, a typhoon hit Kushimoto directly, causing a large scale

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

and

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

damage mainly in the Tokai region (especially

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

). This typhoon, called the Isewan Typhoon, killed 5,000 people and was the deadliest typhoon in modern Japan.

Name origin

There are two widely accepted views of the origin of the name "Kushimoto" frm. The first is explained by a strange tree growing in a shrine in Cape Shionomisaki, whose seedling is thought to have floated from a far off island to its current resting place. An archaic compound form of the

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

for "kushi" (串) is said to have meant "strange tree"; in combination with the second character "moto" (本), the name is supposed to represent "strange tree's origin." Another explanation dictates that the "kushi" character is a visual abstraction of the town's layout; Cape Shionomisaki and Oshima act as the smaller upper "kuchi" (口) radical, while the mainland acts as the larger lower one. The "bo" (｜) radical that strikes through both of the others is said to represent the isthmus that runs through the town.

Communities and neighborhoods

Central

*Fujihashi *Kushimoto

Eastern

*Koza *Nishi-Mukai *Tahara

Southern

*Oshima *Shiono-Misaki

Western

*Arita *Tanami *Wabuka

Government

Kushimoto has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

town council of 13 members. Kushimoto, collectively with the other municipalities in Higashimuro District, contributes two members to the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Wakayama 3rd district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

Primary industries include horticulture and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

Education

Kushimoto has nine public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Wakayama Prefectural Department of Education.

High schools

*Kushimoto Koza High School

Junior high schools

*Kushimoto Junior High School *Kushimoto-Nishi Junior High School *Nishi-Mukai Junior High School *Shionomisaki Junior High School

Elementary schools

*Hashigui Elementary School *Kushimoto Elementary School *Koza Elementary School *Izumo Elementary School *Nishi-Mukai Elementary School *Oshima Elementary School *Shionomisaki Elementary School *Tahara Elementary School *Kushimoto Nishi Elementary School

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

– Kisei Main Line * - - - - - - -

Highway

Kisei Expressway * *

Local attractions

270px, Hashigui-iwa 270px, Ertuğrul Memorial *Hashigui Beach *Hashigui-Iwa Coastal Scenic Area * Kashinozaki Lighthouse *Koza Coastal Scenic Area *Koza River * Kuroshima and Taijima *Kushimoto Marine Park *Okyoro Art Museum * Shionomisaki Lighthouse *Shionomisaki Southernmost Point Park *Shionomisaki Youth Hostel * Turkish Memorial and Museum *Umikongo Coastal Scenic Area *United States Friendship Museum Kushimoto is famous for its many coastal rock formations, including Hashigui-Iwa and Umikongo. Cape Shionomisaki, located in the southern tip of the town, has a park and tower marking the southernmost point of

. The island of Kii-Oshima, connected to the main town via a bridge, is home to two museums: * The Turkish Memorial and Museum, located on the southeastern end of the island, commemorates the foundering and sinking of the Turkish ship '' Ertugrul'' on the rocky Oshima shore. As of 2005, there was discussion of salvaging the wreckage with a Turkish team to exhibit it in the local museum. *The United States Friendship Museum commemorates the visit of the

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

'' Lady Washington'' and the brig ''Grace,'' which in 1791 took place decades before

Commodore Matthew Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan ...

's famed landing in Japan and opening of diplomatic relations with the United States. The museum also hosts a collection of American artifacts and items of nostalgia from its sister city, Hemet, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Kushimoto had been the northernmost point where coral was found in Japan, beyond the Darwin Point of 29N latitude. Nevertheless, the meandering

Kuroshio 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 ...

warm current that normally protects the coral, led to influx of cold water in 2018 that killed off most of the coral. Both water too hot or too cold can bleach coral.

Water sports

The surrounding wetlands and coastal areas in Kushimoto are designated areas of conservation through the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on We ...

of 1971. They have since become popular spots for

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

, with numerous diving establishments along National Highway 42. The Kozagawa River, regulated by the Shichikawa Dam, is one of three rivers in southern Wakayama Prefecture known for kayaking. Though waves are relatively tame compared with worldwide standards, Kushimoto is a popular

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 ...

spot for locals and people from the bigger cities in the Kansai area.

Annual events and festivals

In late January or early February is the Shiono-Misaki Fire Festival. During this event, the large grassy field that designates Honshū's southernmost tip is ritually burned. Spectators may walk through the fire as it progresses through the field. In February is the Oshima Boat Race. Festivals grounds are set up at Oshima Port, and two boats ritually race to and from the port on the mainland Kushimoto. In August, the Summer Fireworks Festival takes place at Kushimoto Port. In October is the Sunset Marathon. The marathon's route winds through Oshima and Shiono-Misaki.

Notable people from Kushimoto

Sanma Akashiya is a Japanese comedian, TV presenter, radio personality and actor most commonly known as Sanma-san. His real name is . His talent agency is Yoshimoto Kogyo and his shishô (master) back when he studied '' rakugo'' is Shōfukutei Matsunosuke. T ...

, TV comedian and actor

Sister cities

Kushimoto has three

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is International relations, a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there ar ...

: * Yakakent,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

Hemet, California Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto, California, San Jacinto. The population w ...

Kushimoto has one friendship city: * Torres Shire Council,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

References

External links

* *
Official website
{{Wakayama Towns in Wakayama Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Kushimoto, Wakayama