Osatsube Coast Sea Kayaking

尾札部海岸

Hokkaido Paddling / Southern Hokkaido

Photo of Rob Thomson Founder of Hokkaido Wilds

Posted on Sep 20, 2023

by Rob Thomson

Posted on Sep 20, 2023

by Rob Thomson

0 0

25km

Distance

1 day(s)

Time

1/5

Remoteness

4/5

Water clarity

5/10

Difficulty

Jun-Oct

Best season

The Osatsube Coast 尾札部海岸 on the southeastern tip of the Oshima Peninsula is by no means remote. In fact, it positively heaves with human activity. There's one of Hokkaido's most popular surf beaches, a number of small fishing ports, and Hokkaido's largest kelp farm. As such, it's a fascinating section of coast to experience just how intimately involved Hokkaido coastal locals can be with a near-coast sea area - expect plenty of concrete, break-waters, boat ramps, and kelp processing facilities. All of this human landscape is relatively small-scale though, so it never really feels over-bearing. Furthermore, interspersed between the human landscape are relatively untouched and rugged capes, cliffs, and waterfalls. This is a coast with a lot going on, and will keep the paddler engaged throughout, right to the exciting surf beach landing.

We visited this route on Jul 29, 2023

Paddlers: Haidee, Saoka, Timbah

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Location

The Osatsube Coast is on the far southeastern end of the Oshima Peninsula in southern Hokkaido. It’s just a 45 minute drive east of Hakodate City. Put-in and take-out locations are described below, but naturally this coast can be paddled in either direction.

Put-in Location: Google Maps

Arguably the most convenient spot to put in on this section of coast is the small beach at the mouth of the Yagi River 八木川 (more like a stream) just west of the Osatsube fishing port 尾札部漁港, here. There are convenient concrete steps down to the beach. There’s plenty of parking in the area next to the fishing port. From there, paddlers can paddle either west or east along the coast, depending on one’s objectives. To paddle the full length of this section of coast, put in at the small, mostly disused boat ramp here, about 1okm northwest of Osatsube Port. Note, however, there’s no parking in the vicinity. You’ll need to drop boats and park your vehicle elsewhere.

Take-out Location: Google Maps

The southeastern-most end of this section of coast is Todohokke Surf Beach 銚子サーフビーチ (location). This is a very popular surf beach, so take utmost care when approaching the beach, taking care not to get in the way of surfers. Depending on the tide and surf conditions, the waves can be relatively dumpy – we recommend scouting the beach prior to setting off. If the surf is unruly, there’s the option to take out in the relative shelter of some breakwaters around here, a few hundred meters south of the main surf area.

General notes

As far as Hokkaido paddling routes go, this section of coast on the southeastern tip of the Oshima Peninsula is by no means remote. In fact, it positively heaves with human activity. There’s one of Hokkaido’s most popular surf beaches, a number of small fishing ports, and Hokkaido’s largest kelp farm. As such, it’s a fascinating section of coast to experience just how intimately involved Hokkaido coastal locals can be with a near-coast sea area. In some places, it’s really quite extraordinary how much the coast has been bent to the will of the people living there – expect plenty of concrete, break-waters, boat ramps, and kelp processing facilities. All of this human landscape is relatively small-scale though, so it never really feels over-bearing. Furthermore, interspersed between the human landscape are relatively untouched and rugged capes, cliffs, and waterfalls. This is a coast with a lot going on, and will keep the paddler engaged throughout, right to the exciting surf beach landing.

Route description

Here, we describe a full paddle along the 25km of coast, putting in at the small deserted boat ramp here. For the first 5km or so, you’ll be paddling along a coast with plenty of concrete and boat ramps – an interesting look into how the Hokkaido locals co-exist with the sea here. The human activity only increases in volume as you approach Osatsube fishing port. This area is Hokkaido’s largest kelp farming area. A great massive section of the offshore coast is covered with buoys and ropes, all dedicated to the farming of kelp, or konbu 昆布 in Japanese. This kelp is harvested, dried, and used in all manner of Japanese cuisine. It’s an incredibly important additive to achieve the all-important umami that is so crucial to the Japanese food experience.

Just east of Osatsube Port is Yagi-kawa river, a beautifully clear stream, with a small beach. This is a good spot for a break. From Osatsube Port, the coast is conspicuously less impacted by human activity. A number of small capes and reefs await. Arguably the highlight of this section of coast is the Furube Falls 古部の大滝. This surprisingly high waterfall comes out of nowhere, and is only practically viewed from the sea. The water that flows off the top of the cliff is very iron-rich, dying the surrounding area a deep red.

The final large cape of the paddle before Todohokke Beach is Choshi-misaki 銚子岬. The sea condition can be somewhat different beyond the cape, so be prepared for a possible last 1km or so of difficult paddling into the beach. Watch for surfers as you approach Todohokke Beach, and take some time to view what the waves are doing before heading in.

Route Timing

Trip time: 6hrs 0min

We’ve included the full 25km we paddled over two days here. Easily done in one long day, or at a more leisurely two days if you’ve got a weekend for it.

Transport

Public transport:

This entire coastline is dotted with bus stops – perhaps one of the highest density of bus stops along a single stretch of road we’ve seen in Hokkaido. These are all accessible from Hakodate JR train station via local bus. For the Osatsube Port put in, for example, you’ll want to get off at Kurowashimisaki Gyoko bus stop 黒鷲岬漁港 (location). For the northwestern-most put in at the small boat ramp, you can take the bus to Nisoma bus stop 二艘間 (location). For Todohokke Beach, get a bus to/from Choshi bus stop 銚子 (location). For timetabling and scheduling, use Google Maps.

By car:

There’s plenty of parking at the Osatsube-Kurowashimisaki port (location) and Todohokke Beach (location). For the northwestern-most put in at Nisoma, there’s no parking at all, so you’ll need to arrange a drop-off or park elsewhere.

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 JHA/Japan Coast Guard 1:250,000 nautical chart for this area is Tsugarukaikyo Higashigchi to Erimo-misaki (W1030 – buy online). Printed 1:50,000 scale bathymetric charts are available here: Esan-misaki, Shikabe.

Print: HokkaidoWilds.org 1:25,000 TOPOMAP+

Official Topo Map: Usujiri (臼尻) – map no. NK-54-22-1-1

Official Topo Map 2: Kakkumi (川汲) – map no. NK-54-22-1-2

Official Topo Map 3: Osatsube (尾札部) – map no. NK-54-16-13-4

Official Topo Map 4: Esan (恵山) – map no. NK-54-16-14-1

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

Being at the southeastern end of the relatively protected Uchiura Bay, this section of coast isn’t going to see the large Pacific Ocean swells that other Pacific-facing coastal areas get. With a large fetch to the northeast, however, conditions can get rough when there’s a strong northerly or easterly blowing. Also note that before 10am or so in the morning, there will be a lot of kelp harvester boats zipping in and out of breakwaters. They won’t be expecting to see kayakers in the area, and given the speed they move about, they may not see you close to the surface of the water. We would recommend avoiding paddling before 10am if possible, particularly at the northern end of the route, and especially when visibility is low.

See our tips for keeping safe while canoeing, kayaking and packrafting in Hokkaido here.

Weather forecast

Windy.com weather forecast for Osatsube Coast

Tide

Tide information for Osatsube-gyoko

CampSites

None

Onsen nearby

About 10 minutes drive south from Todohokke Beach is the amazing tidal Mizunashi-kaihin Onsen 水無海浜温泉 (location, free). This wild hotspring is somewhat of a natural wonder. At high tide, the rock pools are flooded with sea water, and you can only feel the faintest of warmth as the natural hot water seeps straight into the sea water. At low tide, however, the pools fill up with a perfect temperature hot spring water. There are a number of pools of differing temperatures. In order to make sure you get there at the right time, check the Hakodate City website for the tide charts in English and Japanese, here. For a more civilised onsen experience, the nearby Hotel Cape ホテル恵風 (location, 400yen) has the typical onsen bathing experience, with sauna, cold pool, and outdoor pools.

Extra Resources

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

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Route Trip Notes

This trip was Timbah’s idea. Or at least, the soaking in Mizunashi Onsen was, thanks to Roo’s suggestion that we check it out. The paddling was, in a sense, just an extra activity. An addendum of sorts. An excuse, even. The onsen was the main event.

And then there was the amazing konbu kelp industry along the coast. We poked our noses into one kelp drying operation, and a super cheerful chap spent at least 30 minutes telling us about how Hokkaido University had developed a kelp farming technique that now keeps the local kelp industry cranking over for most of the non-winter season.

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Osatsube Coast Sea Kayaking

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