Posted on Oct 5, 2023
0

Posted on Oct 5, 2023

0 0

10km

Distance

0.5 day(s)

Time

3/5

Remoteness

3/5

Water clarity

5/10

Difficulty

Jan-Oct

Best season

GPX

KML

TOPO

GSI

Kenbokki Island 嶮暮帰島 is an uninhabited, specially-protected island just off the Pacific Ocean coast in eastern Hokkaido, close to the small fishing village of Hamanaka 浜中. Access to the island requires a registered guide to be present, but kayakers are able to enjoy the island's high coastal cliffs, accessed by a short 1km paddle from the mainland. In winter and early spring, spring water seeping from the cliffs results in impressive ice waterfalls along the entire northern shoreline. This is a relatively safe paddling location, with good protection from southerly and westerly conditions.

We visited this route on Mar 25, 2023

Topomap

Route Map

Need to know details

Location

Hamanaka is a small town on the Pacific Ocean coast in eastern Hokkaido, just east of Akkeshi City. The area is home to a number of beautiful windswept capes and islands – namely Cape Kiritappu 霧多布岬 and Kenbokki Island 嶮暮帰島. This area is about a five hour drive (371km) east of Sapporo City.

Put-in Location: Google Maps

The most convenient and protected place to put in is at the southwestern end of Biwase-wan Bay 琵琶瀬湾, just east of the small Biwase settlement here. There’s a small fine gravel beach, where paddlers can choose to set off on the north or south side of the Kenbokki Island Spit, depending on the direction of conditions on the day. Given the great protection the spit gives from northerly and southerly conditions, there will usually be some sort of protection available from the put in beach.

Take-out Location: Google Maps

The take-out location is the same as the put-in.

General notes

According to Masao Ashida, owner and lead guide at Land’s Edge tours in Hamanaka, his favourite season for sea kayaking near Kenbokki Island is winter. “On a calm, crisp day, the huge walls of ice on the cliffs are really spectacular,” he explained when we visited him. On our first kayaking trip to the area, we were just at the tail-end of winter, so we only saw a small glimpse of the ice-falls’ former winter glory, but could see how in winter, the area would be very impressive. Summer in the area is also very beautiful, however, with plenty of sea mammals (otters and seals) and sea birds. The whole inner section of Biwase Bay is beautifully protected from the otherwise large Pacific Ocean swells that pummel the rest of the pacific coast in eastern Hokkaido, so it’s a very accessible spot to go paddling, even for relative beginners.

  • Landing on Kenbokki Island: Kenbokki Island is a specially protected uninhabited island, and as such, visitors who want to land and walk on the island need to do so accompanied by a registered guide (such as Ashida-san).
Route description

From the beach at Biwase, paddle along the prominent spit connecting the mainland and Kenbokki Island until you arrive at the island – a distance of about 950m. The spit is intertidal – at high tide it is only just covered, and at low tide, it transforms into a prominent gravel bar. From where the spit attaches to the island, it’s a 1.5km paddle east along the protected northern shoreline to the eastern end of the island. In winter and spring, this shoreline has impressive ice waterfalls along the low cliffs.

From the eastern most point of the island, either paddle around the very exposed southern side of the island, or return the way you came, for a nice short paddle. If you’d like to extend the paddle, we thoroughly recommend paddling 1km north-northeast to Kojima Island 小嶋, and then another 500m to Azechi Cape アゼチの岬. Take care on the western tip of Kojima Island, as the sea bed rises somewhat, creating large breaking waves if the Pacific swell is running high.

On the return from Azechi Cape, you’ll have a great view of the cliffs and precipices of the northern side of Kenbokki Island – it’s all very photogenic.

Route Timing
Trip time: 3hrs 0min

This is a perfect location for taking your time, checking out the coastal areas of Kenbokki Island. We’d suggest a leisurely 3 hours in total.

Transport

Public transport:

A local bus runs from Chanai JR train station 茶内駅 to central Hamanaka. From central Hamanaka, there’s very local ‘on demand’ bus that runs from central Hamanaka to the Biwase settlement, but only if reserved in advance. Unfortunately, these bus routes are not yet in Google Maps’ database, neither are they registered with Japan’s domestic transport mapping prowess Navitime. For those who can make sense of the Japanese (and handle the pre-booking in Japanese on the phone), here are the details. Given the limited time slots even for pre-booking, most paddlers may be better served by catching a taxi. Kiritappu-Chuo Hire 霧多布中央ハイヤー is located in central Hamanaka here. Call them on 0153-62-3141 to book (they’re unlikely to speak English). From Chanai JR Station to the put-in is about 12km. In a taxi, that would likely cost around 4,500-5,000yen one-way.

By car: 

There is ample parking at the put-in, on the gravel beach in Biwase here. Make sure not to block access to the gravel ramp over the concrete wall, as this beach is frequently used by local kelp harvesters.

Physical maps

ELECTRONIC CHARTS
Japanese-language ENCs are available on the Japanese-language new pec smart smartphone app (Android | iPhone). 960yen per month for a subscription.

PRINTED CHARTS

The Akkeshi 厚岸 S-Guide (DH810W-06) is available as PDF download (buy online here). Hamanaka-wan Bay is available in 1:67,000 scale. The JHA/Japan Coast Guard 1:100,000 nautical chart for this area is Kititappu-wan to Habomai-gyoko 霧多布港至歯舞漁港 (W25 – buy online).

Official Topo Map: Biwase (琵琶瀬) – map no. NK-55-26-14-4

NOTE: The official 1/25000 topo map(s) above can be purchased for 350yen from Kinokuniya bookstore next to Sapporo Station or online (in Japanese).

route safety

This is a relatively protected area for sea kayaking, with protection from open ocean swells and conditions on almost all sides. That said, there is some fetch across Biwase Bay, so strong northeasterly winds will quickly whip up waves and whitecaps. Once at the island, there are very few places to escape to the mainland, so do check the weather forecast closely before setting off. If planning to paddle around the southern side of the island, be prepared for some very large Pacific swells, and understand that the outer coast is exposed to the open ocean.

Weather forecast

Windy.com weather forecast for Kenbokki Island

Tide
Tide information for Kiritappu

CampSites

None
Onsen nearby

On the Kiritappu Peninsula (technically an island) is the fantastic Kiritappu Hot Spring Yuyu 霧多布温泉ゆうゆ (location, 500yen). There’s a great view from the outdoor baths, an attached restaurant, and large relaxation area. It’s one of our favourite onsen in Hokkaido.

Extra Resources
No extra English resources that we know of. If you know of any, please let us know in the comments.

Guide Options

For and English-speaking guide to paddling in the Hamanaka area, contact Ashida-san from Land’s Edge. He can guide parties onto Kenbokki Island too.

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Show Full Route Notes Close Route Notes

Route Trip Notes

The whole reason Haidee and I were in the Hamanaka area this early in the season was because we were picking up a new (to us) whitewater open-deck canoe. Ashida-san from Land’s Edge was selling a few old Royalex canoes, and we snapped one up.

Kenbokki Island had been on my to-do list for a while, so despite the still-chilly late March weather, we loaded up the sea kayaks for the four-day round trip from Sapporo.

It was nice to finally meet Ashida-san and see his HQ there right on top of the Pacific Ocean coast cliffs. He’d built a simple deck, literally on the land’s edge, which made for an incredible outlook east towards Nemuro.

After picking up the canoe, we drove to Kiritappu Cape, to see if we could spot any of the famous sea otters that live around the area. 

Sure enough, as we braced ourselves against the wind, we saw a few of the cute little critters.

Afterwards, we drove to a parking area with a heated 24hr toilet block, not far from the sea kayaking put in, and bunked down for the night.

The new day broke calm and cold. Just as the forecast had predicted. Which was good, because the previous day had been very windy, with whitecaps blowing even within Biwase Bay.

The cool morning meant we wasted no time getting into our drysuits – we were suited up before we even left the parking area.

We knew we had a good calm weather window until just after noon, so we were at the put in just as the sun was peeking over the horizon. This was our first paddle for 2023, and it was a cold start!

By the time we were ready to push off, a handful of local kelp harvesters had arrived at the beach. They were milling around, waiting for their whole group to arrive.

“You’re going out in those?” one jovial chap asked.

“How much does one of those cost?” asked another.

We pushed off and only made it 100m before we returned to the beach.

“I’m overheating way too much,” said Haidee.

I was too. In our haste to get off the beach, we’d not heeded the adage be bold, start cold. We had one-too-many layers on under out drysuits, and with the sun now shining on us, we were overheating, despite the cold air.

Back on the water, we made our way across to the island, skirting the eastern side of the gravel spit.

Small vestiges of the winter snow and ice remained in view on the cold northern side of the island.

A couple of seals popped their heads up to investigate us.

It didn’t take long to paddle the northern shoreline of Kenbokki Island, even as we slowed down to investigate the slowly receding winter ice waterfalls.

It was an easy decision to keep paddling on towards Kojima Island, just 500m away to the east. Big Pacific swells surged through the gap between Kenbokki Island and Kojima Island, giving us glimpses of what the exposed coast out there might be like.

The scenery was all together windswept and beautifully bleak. A land that had patiently sat out the harsh winter months, and was now awaiting spring to arrive. 

Once we arrived at Azechi Cape, we stopped for a break, and added some layers. The sun had gone behind a cloud for a moment, robbing us of the warmth that had forced us to jettison layers at the start of the paddle. On went the pogies, and we were toasty once again.

Paddling back westward from Azechi Cape was very picturesque. From our vantage point on the water, we could just see cliffs all the way along to our left. The sun was behind us, lighting the scene nicely. Waves broke against Kojima Islands western side.

Feeling more confident in our paddling now, we approached the more exposed eastern tip of Kenbokki Island. We startled a small seal colony, apparently not accustomed to seeing kayaks in the area. For the next 20 minutes, we were surveilled by the curious critters. They would follow along behind us, diving with a splash whenever we stopped to turn around, and they they’d surface, heads bobbing on the surface.

The remainder of the paddle back to the put-in was uneventful. Some birds here and there.

Some kelp harvesters hard at work on the now-exposed gravel bar.

Back at the van, we decided to have a nap. We rinsed our gear and left it hanging in the late-winter sun.

Later in the afternoon, we went for another wander around the Kiritappu Cape area. Today there was much less wind. Otters were sleeping. Seals were feeding. Foxes were prowling.

This was a beautiful way to start our 2023 paddling season – next time we’ll be back to Kenbokki Island in deep winter to see the ice falls in all their winter glory.

Comments | Queries | Reports

Done this route to Kenbokki Island, or other waterways nearby? Thinking of doing it? Please post any feedback, reports, or queries here. Thanks!

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Kenbokki Island Difficulty Rating

Category

Grade

Points

Strenuousness

Vertical Gain

D

25

Time ascending

D

0

Technicality

Altitude

D

0

Hazards

D

Navigation

D

Totals

25/100

GRADES range from A (very difficult) to D (easy). Hazards include exposure to avalanche and fall risk. More details here. Rating rubric adapted from Hokkaido Yukiyama Guidebook 北海道雪山ガイド.