Posted on May 9, 2023
0

Posted on May 9, 2023

0 0

20km

Distance

1 day(s)

Time

3.5/5

Remoteness

4/5

Water clarity

6/10

Difficulty

May-Oct

Best season

TOPO
The Toyoura/Rebunge Coast 豊浦・礼文華海岸 is a beautifully remote stretch of cliffs, coves, rocks, and beaches at the northern apex of southern Hokkaido's Uchiura Bay 内浦湾. Most of the coves are inaccessible from land, allowing the sea kayaker special access to these idyllic locations. Along the way, there's the curious Koboro JR Station 小幌駅 - a train station nestled inexplicably in a gorge between two tunnels. Near Koboro station on the coast is the Kamanatamoi Inlet カマナタモイの入江, replete with a Shinto grotto, incense, and jizo-san statues. This is a seldom-paddled section of coast, away from any main roads for the most part, so it's a great, accessible place to get away from it all. With good JR train access, this is a great place for paddlers traveling with portable vessels. There are a number of coastal beachside campgrounds dotted along the way.

We visited this route on Sep 25, 2022

Paddlers: Haidee and Ben

Last updated May 11, 2023

Topomap

Route Map

Need to know details

Location

The Toyoura/Rebunge Coast sits at the northernmost apex of the large Uchiura Bay (Funka-wan) in southern Hokkaido, about 85km as the crow flies southwest of Sapporo City. It lies between Oshamambe and Date (Lake Toya).

Put-in Location: Google Maps

The put in at the western end of the route is at the Shizukari Surf Beach. On Google Maps, it’s marked as the “Squeaking Sands Shizukari Beach” 静狩海岸の鳴き砂 – if the conditions are right, the sand will squeak underfoot. Naturally, it’s possible to paddle this section in either direction.

Take-out Location: Google Maps

We’ve marked Okishi Beach 大岸浜 (location) as the eastern-most take out for this route, making it about 20km in length. If you’d prefer to shorten the trip, it’s possible to take out at the Rebunga Coast beach 礼文華海浜, here. There’s a nice campground at that beach, and plenty of parking. If you’d like to lengthen the trip by another 5km, there’s the option of taking out at Toyoura, at the sheltered Toyoura Seaside Park Campground beach 豊浦海浜公園キャンプ場, here.

General notes

Overall, the Uchiura Bay coast is often considered boring and busy. There’s the main National Highway 37 that thunders along next to the coast, so many write it off entirely. The reality could not be further from the truth. The beautiful beaches, with good surf, stretch on for what seems like forever. Here and there, there are 20km stretches of remote cliff-bound coast far from the madding crowds of the main road. This Toyoura to Rebunge Coast section is just that. A gorgeous, unique stretch of coast with cliffs, secluded inlets, ancient forest, rocks, waterfalls, and a couple of nice options for camping along the way.

Route description

Here, we describe paddling from west to east. Put in at Shizukari Beach. This beach is known as a good surf beach if there are the right conditions. Unless there’s a very large swell however, most of the time the waves are more than manageable. Paddle northeast past Shizukari fishing port. It’s only about 1.5km before you leave the beach behind and hit the beautiful cliffs of the coast.

The first destination is a nice cove with a fine stony beach about 4km from the put-in. There’s a nice waterfall in the cove. Another 1.5km east along the coast is a narrow inlet with a cave. From there, it’s 3km to the highlight of the route – the Kamanatamoi Inlet. This gorgeous little inlet has an old tourist boat berthing pier (now disused), hut, and grotto with a shrine. From the inlet, it’s possible to walk about 20 minutes to the curious Koboro JR train station. This station is only accessible by train (or by foot from the coast). Why it hasn’t been mothballed yet is anyone’s guess.

From Kamanatamoi Inlet it’s a picturesque 5km paddle around Ikori-misaki cape to another small cave about 200m east of the cape. From there it’s only 500m to the Rebunge Beach, where there’s a campground, water, toilets, and parking. This is a good place to take out if you’d prefer a trip of around 15km. Indeed, the most spectacular section of coast is now completed.

If you commit to another 5km of pleasant paddling, you can land on the picturesque beach just east of Okishi fishing port. This beach is popular with surf-casting fishers.

Route Timing
Trip time: 6hrs 30min

The timing here allows for walking from Kamanatamoi Inlet to Koboro Station and back.

Transport

Public transport:

The small villages along this route are all very conveniently accessible by JR train – the Muroran Honsen line runs the entire length of the coast. At the western-most end of the route is the Shizukari station 静狩駅 (location). At Rebunge there’s the Rebun station 礼文駅 (location). At the western-most end of the route, there’s the Okishi station 大岸駅 (location). All the stations are within a 10 minute walk of the coast.

By car: 

There’s plenty of parking at all the put-ins/take-outs.

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 small-vessel S-Guide for Uchiura-wan 内浦湾 (DH810W-02) is available as PDF download (buy online here). The scale is spotty though, with only the main fishing ports included in small scale. The printed JHA/Japan Coast Guard 1:150,000 nautical chart for this area is Uchiura-wan (Funka-wan) 内浦湾〔噴火湾〕 (W17 – buy online).

Official Topo Map: Oshamanbe (長万部) – map no. NK-54-21-9-2
Official Topo Map 2: Rebunge (礼文華) – map no. NK-54-21-5-4
Official Topo Map 3: Toyoura (豊浦) – map no. NK-54-21-5-1

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

Compared with other paddling locations in Hokkaido, the Uchiura Bay, being protected somewhat from large ocean swells, is a relatively sheltered place to paddle. That said, there is reasonable fetch across the bay, so any strong winds will whip the sea into a challenging state quite quickly. Also note that from Shizukari to Rebunge – a distance of about 15km – there are very few places to escape to the safety of a road. Inlets tend to be cliff-bound making escape overland difficult. There are walking trails from Kamanatamoi Inlet and Buntaro-yama beach to Koboro Station (location) which can facilitate escape if necessary. Trains stop at Koboro Station about once every hour.

Weather forecast

Windy.com weather forecast for Rebunge Coast

Tide
Tide information for Usu-wan

CampSites

Rebungekaihin Koen Camping Ground (礼文華海浜公園キャンプ場)

Rebungekaihin Koen Camping Ground is a new campground half-way along the Rebunge Coast in southern Hokkaido.

Location: 42.57461 N / 140.59286 E | 1000 yen per tent | Open: May-Oct | Staff hours: 9:00am till 5:00pm.
Closest Onsen: None
Ogishi Seaside Camping Ground (大岸シーサイドキャンプ場)

Ogishi Seaside Camping Ground is a basic campground right on the beach near Ogishi in southern Hokkaido, on the coast of Uchiura Bay.

Location: 42.57938 N / 140.61775 E | 500 yen per tent | Open: Apr-Oct
Closest Onsen: None
Toyoura Seaside Park Camping Ground (豊浦海浜公園キャンプ場)

Toyoura Seaside Park Camping Ground is a basic but attractive campground right on the coast, next to a protected beach in the small town of Toyoura in southern Hokkaido. Right next to the Toyoura Onsen.

Location: 42.58492 N / 140.70306 E | 5000 yen per tent site | Open: Jul-Sep | Staff hours: 9:00am till 5:00pm.
Closest Onsen: Natural Toyoura Onsen Shiosai (天然豊浦温泉しおさい) | 600yen | 0.1km from campground
Onsen nearby

For a post-paddle soak, we recommend the Toyoura Onsen 天然豊浦温泉しおさい (location, 600yen) on the coast, about 5km east of Okishi. There are indoor and outdoor baths, and an attached restaurant. It’s also possible to stay te night there.

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

Guide Options

If you’d like to paddle this area with a guide, consider speaking to Pacifica Outdoor Guiding (formerly Otaki Outdoor Adventures). While they don’t offer a sea kayaking tour product for this area per se, they may be able to arrange something for you if schedules align. The lead guide, Masaaki Sakai, speaks English and has spent time living and working abroad.

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Show Full Route Notes Close Route Notes

Route Trip Notes

As per usual, this was a last-minute, spur of the moment plan. Other coasts were looking a little sporty, but Uchiura Bay was looking glassy, with next to no wind. It made sense for Ben too, since he was living closeby in Niseko.

Haidee and I drove down from Sapporo on the Saturday afternoon, and camped at the Rebunge Campground. It turned out it was the campground’s last night operating for the year.

The next morning, we met Ben at the take out to drop his car off. We then drove together with the boats to the put in at Shizukari Beach. It was an incredible morning. Calm, sunny, idyllic. Where we chose to drop the boats down to the beach was a bit of a scramble, but we got them and the gear down there eventually.

There was very little surf, so launching was a breeze. We covered the 1km or so from the beach to the cliff-bound coast quickly, and were immediately struck by how unique the flora was atop the cliffs. It had a very distinct Honshu (main island of Japan) feeling to it. Conglomerate rock with stunted trees clinging to any flat surface. It looked all very Japanese

We’d started very early, so the sun was somewhat low in the sky still. Paddling eastwards, we had the sun reflecting off the water into our eyes. To make things a bit more pleasant, at the first cove we found, we had a long impromptu break, so that we could wait for the sun to get a bit higher in the sky. Ben napped for 30 minutes. I took photos. Haidee had a snooze. It was picture-perfect relaxing Sunday paddling. 

At noon, we finally got on our way again, now with the sun above us. The mainland Japan vibes continued.

Next stop was lunch at the curious Kamanatamoi Inlet. This peculiar inlet was once a ferry landing for a boat from further south on Oshima Peninsula. Now defunct, there’s just an old pier, a hut, and a grotto with Shinto artifacts in it. 

Adding to all this peculiarity is that the inlet is accessible on foot from the remote Koboro JR station on the Muroran Honsen line.

We went for a 20 minute wander to find the station, and were suitably perplexed as to why the station still exists – it seems to exist only to provide access to the two inlets in the area. Long may it remain.

We gobbled down some lunch, and pushed off from Kamanatamoi Inlet at just before 4pm. It was getting late in the day now, so we were now focussed on getting miles under our belts. In hindsight, we should have planned to take out at Rebunge Beach – most of the interesting coast ended there.

Along the way, though, we chanced upon a cave. Low ceiling. Dark. Deep.

We took a brief look in the cave and pushed on.

We finally arrived at Okishi Beach at 5pm after paddling 20km. 

While this section of coast appears to be rather off the radar for paddlers in Hokkaido, it offered us some very unique scenery along the way. The curious Koboro Station was the icing on the cake.

Comments | Queries | Reports

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Rebunge Coast (Toyoura) 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.