Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park

Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park was established in 1955 as Ashizuri Quasi-National Park, and became Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park in 1972 after the Uwakai area and the underwater park area were additionally designated. The main feature of the park is its varied landscape, consisting of the coastal area including the islands in southwestern Shikoku and the 1,000-meter-high mountains in the inland area. The Ashizuri area has a series of precipitous cliffs with well-developed coastal terraces, and subtropical marine life and coral communities that benefit from the Kuroshio Current can be seen. The Uwakai area, on the other hand, is attractive for its delicate inlets and island scenery of the submerged coast, where visitors can enjoy beautiful underwater scenery centering on soft corals. In the inland area, natural forests including giant trees such as Japanese umbrella pine, cedar, and cypress remain, and the vertical distribution of vegetation can be seen from the warm temperate zone to the cool temperate zone. In addition, the smooth granite riverbed, a series of waterfalls represented by Yukirinotaki Falls, and the beautiful riparian forests of Japanese white oak and tabunoki attract tourists to the Nametoko Gorge in the upper reaches of the Shimanto River. (Source: Ministry of the Environment website https://www.env.go.jp/nature/nationalparks/list/)