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Southern Beach, Chigasaki

HOME > Japan’s Local Treasures > Southern Beach, Chigasaki

Join a summer festival on the beach where Japanese surfing was born

Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture

The town of Chigasaki facing Sagami Bay along Kanagawa Prefecture’s Shonan coastline is famous for its Southern Beach. This is said to be where surfing culture first took off in Japan. The beach is named after the famous J-pop group Southern All Stars, whose lead singer was born in Chigasaki.

Eboshi Iwa is a 15-meter-tall, wave-shaped rock jutting out of a tiny island about 1.4 kilometers offshore from the beach. To get a closer look at the rock and, if the skies are clear, to view it together with Mt. Fuji in the distance, board a sightseeing boat from the beach.

On Marine Day, a national holiday celebrated on the third Monday of July, the Hamaori festival is held at Southern Beach. From before dawn, locals carrying 39 mikoshi portable shrines and chanting ‘dokkoi dokkoi’ (heave ho, heave ho) gather on the beach. As the sun rises, the misogi purification ritual of carrying the mikoshi into the ocean is carried out. This is the festival's highlight, and to be sure of catching it, you will need to be at the beach before 8:00 a.m. During the festival, traditional foods are also served at stalls along the beach.