Cape Iwaisaki

Once forested with tall red pines, all of them swept away by the tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. The park that stands here now preserves the memory of what was lost: the Dragon Pine monument is cast in the shape of one of the trees, twisted by wave force into an angular, dragon-like form. At the tip of the cape, dark limestone rocks absorb the full force of the incoming ocean, sending bursts of spray into the air at high tide. A bronze statue of yokozuna sumo wrestler Hidenoyama Raigoro, a son of this region, stands facing the sea.