is the western tip of

Yonaguni Island , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okinawa, Yonaguni, Ya ...

and the westernmost point in Japan. The cape is within the town of

Yonaguni, Okinawa is a List of towns in Japan, town located entirely on Yonaguni Island in Yaeyama District, Okinawa, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the Extreme points of Japan, westernmost municipality in Japan, and is known for billfish fis ...

. There is a lighthouse, an observation platform, and a monument titled on the cape. Tourists gather at the cape daily to see the final sunset in Japan. The-westernmost-monument-yomaguni

Geography

Cape Irizaki is wide, long, and juts into the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

northwest from Yonaguni Island. The cape reaches a height of , and is surrounded by

sea cliff A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal areas in whic ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, which is about to the west, is visible on a clear day. Kubara hill [] and its homonymous fishing port and settlement are visible to the east of the cape. The Kuroshio Current, Black Current flows west of Cape Irizaki to the north, and is a rich fishing ground for [ arlin and

skipjack tuna The skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'') is a perciform fish in the tuna family, Scombridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Katsuwonus''. It is also known as katsuo, arctic bonito, mushmouth, oceanic bonito, striped tuna or victor fish. ...

. Cape Irizaki, like much of the

Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa Pref ...

, is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

. The cape is devoid of trees due to constant strong winds. Unlike other areas of the Yaeyama Islands, Cape Irizaki is surrounded by very little

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

History

Cape Irizaki is first mentioned in ''Shōhō Kuniezu'', a

kuniezu The were a series of Japanese provincial land maps, created during the Edo period, which the Tokugawa shogunate ordered be created by every province. They are sometimes contrasted with , which were national maps created by the shogunate. In 19 ...

, or series of Japanese provincial land maps created 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 ...

(1603 – 1868). The ''Shōhō Kuniezu'', which was compiled beginning in 1644, lists the cape as "Ire no Zaki". The cape became the westernmost point of Japan in 1879, when Japan annexed the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

Transportation

Cape Irizaki is open to the public, and is easily accessible on foot from the settlement of Kuburadake. The cape is approximately one hour by bus from Yonaguni Airport.

Geography

History

Transportation

References

See also