250px, Tottori Sand Dunes The are sand dunes located outside the city center of Tottori in

Tottori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, least populous prefecture of Japan at 538,525 (2023) and has a geographic area of . ...

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 ...

. At a length of and less than wide, it is the largest sand dune in Japan. The sand dunes are part of San'in Kaigan Geopark, which is part of The UNESCO Global Geoparks.

History

The sand formations were created when sediment deposits carried from the Chūgoku Mountains by the Sendai River were thrown away into the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

. Strong winds then shaped the dunes over a span of 100,000 years. The area of the dunes has been steadily decreasing due to a government

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

program following

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 ...

. Concrete barriers have been built along the coast to prevent the formations from eroding. Authorities have adopted measures to stop the shrinkage of the dunes, partly because they attract a significant amount of tourism to the area.

Geological Features

The Tottori Sand Dunes stretch from Iwato in Fukube-cho, Tottori City to Hakuto, Tottori City, on both sides of the Sendai River. However, the "Hamasaka Dunes" area of 545 hectares on the eastern side of the river is the most famous tourist destination. Lake Tanegaike, formed when the dunes separated it from the sea, lies to the southeast. The maximum elevation difference reaches 90 meters, creating bowl-shaped depressions called "suribachi" (grinding bowls). The largest of these, sometimes called "Ō-suribachi" (large grinding bowl), rises to a height of 40 meters. On the slopes of these depressions, patterns resembling hanging blinds called "saren" can be seen where sand has collapsed in flowing patterns, alongside striped patterns called "fūmon" (wind ripples) formed by winds of approximately 5-6 meters per second. The surface is not always dry; at the deepest part of the suribachi, there is an area called an "oasis" where groundwater seeps out, sometimes forming a shallow pool during certain seasons.

Graffiti Incidents

The sand dunes have experienced problems with unauthorized markings and drawings. To address this ongoing issue, the "Ordinance to Protect and Nurture Japan's Premier Tottori Sand Dunes" was enacted on April 1, 2009, making such defacement punishable by fines of up to 50,000 yen.

In Popular Culture

An episode of Katanagatari takes place in the Sand Dunes and attributes it to desertification.

Gallery

Tottori-Sakyu Tottori Japan.JPG, View from the biggest dune Tottori sanddunes camel.jpg, A camel for tourists

References

External links

Tottori Prefecture Guidebook
{{Authority control Articles containing video clips Dunes of Japan Natural monuments of Japan Landforms of Tottori Prefecture Tourist attractions in Tottori Prefecture