Daiosaki Lighthouse

About the Daiosaki Lighthouse

The Daiosaki Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1927 on the tip of Cape Daio at Nakiri, Daio-cho, Shima City, Mie Prefecture; the lighthouse itself and the gateposts and wall around it were registered as two Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on March 29, 2013 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The name is read Daiōsaki.

It belongs to the national government (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), with the gateposts and wall shared with Shima City (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is one of the lighthouses that the Tokokai, the lighthouse association, opens to the public, so you can climb the tower and look out over the Kumano Sea.

A Light for a Dangerous Cape

The Tokokai describes Cape Daio as a wave-cut tableland on the southeast corner of the Shima Peninsula, jutting out between the Enshu Sea and the Kumano Sea. Reefs lie all around, and ships were wrecked again and again near Daio Rock, an 8.4-metre islet offshore. The patch of ground where the lighthouse stands is called Joyama, said to be the site of a fort of the Kuki navy.

A lighthouse was first proposed in 1884; in 1913 a saury fishing boat sank with the loss of 51 lives, and in 1918 the cruiser Otowa ran aground on Daio Rock. Construction began only on May 16, 1927; the light was lit on October 5 and the work completed on October 10 (Tokokai).

The Two Registered Structures

Both were registered as structures contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs sees the lighthouse as part of the historic seascape of the Kumano Sea, and the gateposts and wall as completing it.

The Daiosaki Lighthouse is a cylindrical reinforced-concrete tower 4.2 metres in outside diameter, with a lantern on top, 23 metres high overall. Columns arranged in a fan support the balcony of the annexe, and the entrance has classical detailing (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Daiosaki Lighthouse Gateposts and Wall consist of a reinforced-concrete wall that bends around the lighthouse, pushing out toward the sea to follow the ground, for a total length of 105.3 metres, and gateposts finished in washed mortar (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting and Getting There

According to the Tokokai, climbing the tower costs a donation of 300 yen for visitors of junior-high age and above; younger children enter free. The tower is open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (to 4:30 p.m. at weekends and holidays from March to October), with last entry 15 minutes before closing. Since March 2026 it closes from noon to 1:00 p.m.

At the foot of the lighthouse, an exhibition room opened in 2010 explains how lighthouses work and their history (Tokokai). Enquiries go to the Tokokai Daiosaki office (0599-72-1899).

From Ugata Station on the Kintetsu Shima Line, take a Mie Kotsu bus for about 20 minutes to the Daiosaki Todai stop and walk about 10 minutes. By car it is about 1 hour from the Ise-nishi interchange of the Ise Expressway (Tokokai).