Cape Irago

A cape jutting out into the Irago Strait at the tip of the Atsumi Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture. It is a tourist hub in Mikawa Bay Quasi-National Park. Its elevation is 91 meters. The geology is the Chichibu Mesozoic and Paleozoic strata that form the backbone of the peninsula, a hard bedrock mainly made of chert, and Irago Cape Lighthouse is located here. Miyayama and Honeyama, which are covered with virgin forests of tropical plants, are also part of this same rock type. On the Ise Bay side, centered on the lighthouse, are the long Nishiyama Sand Dune, and on Omotehama (Enshu Nada side), there are Koijigahama Beach and Horikiri Sand Dune. Irago Port was built as a refuge port during storms, but in peacetime it is a tourist port with ferry boats and high-speed boats departing between Toba and Morozaki. The nearby Hattachi Dam is a dam at the end of the Toyogawa Irrigation Canal main waterway and is used to irrigate the fields in the Nishiyama area, and a vast greenhouse horticulture village has been built there. Near the dam is also the site of the Todaiji Temple tile kiln from the Kamakura period. The main tourist attraction is the magnificent natural scenery of the inland bay and the open sea, but there is also Japan's largest illuminated chrysanthemum, a group of melon greenhouses, a national vacation village, and a Basho haiku monument.

[Gohei Ito, January 19, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

愛知県渥美半島(あつみはんとう)の先端部、伊良湖水道に突出する岬。三河湾国定公園の観光拠点。標高91メートル。地質は半島の骨格をなす秩父中・古生層で、チャートを主体とする硬質の岩盤で、伊良湖岬灯台がある。暖地植物の原生林の茂る宮山(みややま)、骨山(ほねやま)なども一連の岩質である。灯台を中心に伊勢(いせ)湾側には長大な西山砂丘、表浜（遠州灘(なだ)側）には恋路(こいじ)ヶ浜や堀切砂丘がある。伊良湖港は暴風時の避難港としてつくられたが、平時は観光港で鳥羽(とば)、師崎(もろざき)との間にフェリーボートや高速船が発着する。近くの初立ダム(はったちだむ)は豊川用水幹線水路末端のダムで、西山地区の畑地灌漑(かんがい)用に使われ、広大な温室園芸村ができている。ダム付近には鎌倉時代の東大寺瓦窯址(がようし)もある。観光資源は内湾、外洋の壮大な自然景観が中心ではあるが、日本一の電照ギク、メロンの温室群、国民休暇村、芭蕉(ばしょう)句碑などもある。

［伊藤郷平　2017年1月19日］

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