Hokkaido · ShakotanNo.699★★★Open in map →
Cape Kamui
A narrow cape on the west coast of Hokkaido, with a paved ridge path running out to its tip. Entry is free and the walk is short, but seasonal gate hours and a reservation-only bus decide whether you get there at all.
- FromOtaru Station
- ~2 hr 25 minChuo Bus + town bus, book ahead
- Get off atKamui-misaki stop (Shakotan town community bus)
- On foot
- Cape Kamui
Where it is
102 more notes in Hokkaido · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Nyonin Kinsei Gatethe gate at the head of the path, named for the old ban on women going beyond the cape
- Charenka no Michia paved ridge path with the sea dropping away on both sides
- Cape Kamui Lighthousea small unmanned light standing near the far end of the ridge
- The tip of the capethe turning point of the walk, with open water on three sides
- Kamui Rockthe pillar of rock offshore that the Charenka legend is attached to
How to actually get there
- Otaru Station → Bikuni Terminal (Hokkaido Chuo Bus, Shakotan Line route 20, about 1 hr 20 min).
- Bikuni Terminal → Kamui-misaki (Shakotan town community bus, just under an hour; reserve by 17:00 the previous day).
- Pass through the Nyonin Kinsei gate and follow Charenka no Michi to the lighthouse and the tip.
- Turn back to the car park in time for the 12:14, 13:34 or 15:24 town bus.
- Chuo Bus to Bikuni, then the Shakotan town bus
- From Otaru Station take the Hokkaido Chuo Bus Shakotan Line (route 20) to its terminus at Bikuni Terminal, about one hour and twenty minutes. The town of Shakotan runs the final stretch: its community bus leaves Bikuni at 10:30, 11:30 and 13:30 and reaches the Kamui-misaki stop just under an hour later. Most of those runs are reservation-only, so phone the operator by 17:00 on the previous day.
- Return through Bikuni Terminal
- The town bus leaves Kamui-misaki at 12:14, 13:34 and 15:24, and at Bikuni Terminal it connects with Chuo Bus departures for Otaru at 13:19, 14:39 and 16:29. The 15:24 is the last one out of the cape, and these runs also need booking the day before, so settle your return before you start walking.
About the place
Cape Kamui reaches north-west off the Shakotan Peninsula into the Sea of Japan, on the western coast of Hokkaido. From the car park a paved path called Charenka no Michi runs 770 metres along the crest of a narrow ridge to the tip. The ground falls away on both sides for almost the whole route, so the sea stays beside you, and a small unmanned lighthouse stands near the far end. Two gates control the path and they are shut when the wind or rain gets up. Ezo-kanzo day lilies flower along the ridge in early summer.
How to enjoy it
The gates keep short hours and shift with the season: from April to November they open at 8:00, closing as late as 18:30 in June and as early as 16:30 in November, while from December to March the window narrows to 10:00-15:00. Last entry is roughly an hour before closing. Walking out to the tip and back takes about forty minutes if you do not stop.
Background & history
For most of the Edo period the Matsumae domain barred Japanese women from travelling beyond this cape. The reason was less religious than commercial: keeping settlers away from the herring grounds further north protected the domain's interests. The ban fell apart in the closing years of the shogunate, when an official of the Hakodate magistrate's office sailed past the cape with his wife aboard and defied the curse aloud. A legend sits underneath all of it — Charenka, an Ainu chief's daughter abandoned by the fugitive warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune, is said to have thrown herself into the sea here and become the rock offshore.
Before you go
- Cash
- Walking the cape costs nothing, and Hokkaido's official travel site lists the car park as free. Chuo Bus accepts transport IC cards on the Otaru leg; the Shakotan town bus does not, taking cash or its own coupon tickets, so keep coins for that section.
- Good to know
- The gates shut in strong wind or rain, which can happen at any time of year. The town bus serves the cape only between April and November, and the restaurant and shop by the car park close from November through March. In winter the gates open late and close early, and the cape is effectively car-only.
- Another way
- Yoichi Station on the JR Hakodate Line also sits on the Chuo Bus Shakotan Line, so from Sapporo you can take the train as far as Yoichi and pick the bus up there instead of riding the whole way from Otaru.
- After you get off
- The Kamui-misaki stop is beside the car park at the neck of the cape. The gate onto the ridge is a minute away, and the tip is a further twenty minutes on foot.
Nearby notes
Distances are straight lines on the map, not travel times.