Cape Muroto (室戸岬, Muroto-misaki) is a headland at the southeastern tip of the Japanese island of Shikoku, in the cityofMuroto, Kōchi Prefecture. Extending into the Pacific Ocean[1] and situated in Muroto UNESCO Global Geopark [ja][2][3] within Muroto-Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park,[1] the cape has been designatedaPlace of Scenic Beauty[4] and the local vegetation a Natural Monument,[5] while the Sound of the Waves at Cape Muroto and Mikurodo Cave [ja] is among the 100 Soundscapes of Japan.[6]
Cape Muroto
室戸岬
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View from Kanjōgahama (灌頂ヶ浜) at the cape
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  Cape Muroto Location of Cape Muroto on Shikoku Show map of Kochi Prefecture Cape Muroto Cape Muroto (Japan) Show map of Japan | |
| Coordinates: 33°15′12″N 134°10′39″E / 33.253301°N 134.177494°E / 33.253301; 134.177494 | |
| Location | Muroto, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan |
On the summit overlooking the cape is Hotsumisaki-ji, the twenty-fourth temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage,[1] as well as Cape Muroto Lighthouse [ja], which started operating in 1899,[7] and a statue of Nakaoka Shintarō.[8]
Due to the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate in the Nankai Trough, some 140 kilometres (87 mi) off the cape, the land around the cape is being uplifted at a rate of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) per millennium, at the top end of the world's uplift rates.[2]
Birds observed in the vicinity of the cape include the osprey and blue rock thrush.[9] Marine life in the waters offshore includes the Japanese amberjack, Japanese anchovy, Japanese barramundi, Japanese jack mackerel, Japanese mackerel, Japanese pilchard, Pacific mackerel, Blackfin seabass, three-line grunt, and spear squid.[9]
