Kumano · JP

Tategasaki

Tategasaki (楯ヶ崎) is a colossal basalt cape on the Kumano coast of Mie Prefecture, where a wall of columnar joint pillars rises approximately 100 metres from the Pacific Ocean across a 600-metre front. Often called the largest columnar joint formation in Japan, it looks like a giant stone shield planted against the sea—which is exactly what its name means. The cape sits inside Yoshino-Kumano National Park as a specially protected zone, and can be appreciated from two dramatically different vantage points: a 70-minute sightseeing cruise that brings you face-to-face with the cliffs from the water, or a 40-minute forest walk along an interpretive trail to the headland itself.