Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments of Wakayama

On the easternmost cliff of Kii Oshima Island in Wakayama, the Kashinozaki Lighthouse — designed by Scottish engineer Richard Henry Brunton and first lit in 1870 — stands as Japan's oldest working stone lighthouse. In the waters below, the Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul sank in 1890, and the islanders' selfless rescue became the cornerstone of an enduring Japan-Türkiye friendship. Designated a National Historic Site in 2021, the lighthouse, shipwreck reef, landing site, and memorial cemetery together tell a remarkable story of modernization, maritime tragedy, and cross-cultural compassion.

On the Torinosu Peninsula in Tanabe, hundreds of dark mudstone veins cross a tidal platform: Japan's largest clastic dike swarm, formed by an ancient earthquake.

Nachi Falls in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, is Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall at 133 meters and has been worshipped as the sacred body of Hirou Shrine since ancient times. Designated as a National Scenic Beauty and a component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range,' it forms the spiritual heart of Kumano alongside the three Grand Shrines and the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails.

Near Honshu's southern tip at Kushimoto, about 40 stone pillars run 850 meters out to sea, hard rock left standing after waves wore away the soft mudstone.

Beside Yunomine Onsen, Histiopteris incisa survives at its northern limit on geothermal warmth. First found in Japan here in 1887; a Natural Monument since 1928.

At the mouth of the Waka River, this bay so moved Emperor Shomu in 724 that he renamed it. Its tidal flat, Akahito's Man'yoshu verse, and Edo-era bridges endure.