Cape Ashizuri

Ashizuri is the southern tip of Shikoku, a headland of eighty-metre cliffs where the Kuroshio current runs close inshore and keeps the climate subtropical - camellias grow wild across the cape in numbers and flower from February. The white lighthouse on the point dates in its present form to the 1960s and stands above a viewing deck from which the horizon visibly curves on a clear day, the cliff giving enough height for it. Kongofukuji, temple thirty-eight of the Shikoku pilgrimage, sits behind the cape in subtropical woodland and is one of the remotest stops on the circuit - the walk between it and the previous temple is among the longest legs of the route. The John Manjiro connection is local and worth knowing: the fisherman shipwrecked in 1841, rescued by an American whaler and later returned as one of the first Japanese to have lived in the United States, came from this coast.

Highlights

• Eighty-metre cliffs - the southern tip of Shikoku with a visible curve to the horizon.
• Wild camellias - flowering across the cape from February in a subtropical climate.
• Kongofukuji - temple thirty-eight of the pilgrimage, among the remotest on the circuit.
• The lighthouse deck - a white tower above the point with an open viewing platform.

When to go

February to March for camellias; all year otherwise. Half a day.

Things to know

It is remote - buses from Nakamura take well over an hour and are infrequent. Facilities on the cape are minimal. Typhoons hit this coast directly in late summer. The viewpoint is exposed and windy.

Nearby

The Shimanto river is north-east; Tatsukushi's marine park is north.

Key facts