Ibuki Juniper on Tobishima

Tobishima is a compact island just off the Naruto Strait, identifiable by its candle-like lighthouse and visible from the shore near the Onaruto Bridge. The island is covered in ibuki, a hardy juniper species, growing in dense clusters along the ridge line. Its presence in this quantity this far north on the Japanese archipelago is rare enough that Tokushima Prefecture designated the island a Natural Monument. The plants grow in gnarled, asymmetric forms shaped by constant battering from the strait's fierce winds and whirlpools. Local fishermen once used the tough branches to make net handles and other tools, and the species still clings to the rock with the same stubbornness.