Higashi-Hennazaki

Higashi-Hennazaki points east for about 2 km and is never wider than 250 m. The Pacific lies to the south and the East China Sea to the north. It was named a national Place of Scenic Beauty on 6 February 2007. The wind is so constant that trees cannot grow, and the low wind-pruned plant community of tenninsou and isomatsu on the raised coral is a prefectural natural monument; a 1979 survey counted 222 species. Boulders up to 6–8 m across near the tip were thrown up by the 1771 Meiwa tsunami or earlier waves.

At the end stands Hennazaki Lighthouse, first lit on 27 March 1967 with its light 43 m above the sea, and you can climb it for ¥300. From the top the view covers about 320 degrees of open water, which is why people come for the first sunrise of the year. Near the lighthouse stands a boulder said to be the tomb of Mamuya. In the legend she was a woman from Bora village who threw herself from these cliffs, and the city lists the tomb as a historic site.

For riders the cape marks the far end of the south-east loop from Hirara, and it lies about 20 km by road from the airport. In winter the north and north-east wind blasts across the spur road with nothing to stop it, so ride out and back with care and keep a layer for the tip.