Kesennuma, Ishinomaki Travel Guides

Kesennuma and Ishinomaki offer tourist attractions such as Oshima, Toyama, and Hakkeijima, sightseeing events such as Hatsumode, Setsubun Festival, and Kesennuma Minato Festival, and local delicacies such as macarons, Ishinomaki yakisoba and oyster hot pot.

Kesennuma and Ishinomaki are towns facing the Pacific Ocean in Miyagi Prefecture, where visitors can enjoy fresh seafood for food and beautiful sea views and swimming for sightseeing. Kesennuma and Ishinomaki are also known for having been severely damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake, making them useful places to learn about disaster prevention.

Kesennuma has a rias coastline, and the wave-carved "Gigama Hanzo," a Miyagi Prefecture-designated scenic spot, is so unique that it is hard to believe it was formed naturally, and the towering Oriishi stone is worth seeing. The towering Oriishi is also worth seeing. The sight of the tidal rocks at Iwaisaki spouting out like a whale along with the waves is a sight to behold.

Oshima Island, located at the entrance to Kesennuma Bay, is inseparably linked to Kesennuma. After looking down at the sea from Kameyama, which offers a panoramic view of the rias coastline, visitors can enjoy swimming at Oda-nohama Beach, which has been selected as one of the top three of the 100 best bathing beaches by the Ministry of the Environment. Jyuhachinohama, a beach with sand that makes a sound when walked on, was designated as a national natural monument.

Kesennuma is famous for its delicious seafood, especially shark fins, and some tourists come all the way from overseas to buy Kesennuma's shark fins. Kesennuma ramen containing shark's fin is a gem, and freshly caught oysters, bonito, Pacific saury, and sea squirts can also be enjoyed in Kesennuma.

On the other hand, Ishinomaki City, which, like Kesennuma, offers delicious seafood, has a brown yakisoba called Ishinomaki Yakisoba. At first glance, the noodles are brown with sauce, but the noodles, which absorb the seafood broth well, are brown even before cooking.

The places you should not miss when visiting Ishinomaki City are Tsunaji Island, Kinkasan, and Tashirojima, which surround the Oshika Peninsula. Shirahama Beach on Tsunajishima, with its high degree of transparency, is crowded with tourists every year. Tashirojima, known as the model for Hyokkori Hyotanjima, is also home to Manga Island, as well as many stray cats and a cat shrine dedicated to cats.

Ishinomaki is also culturally rich in history, not forgetting the Ogatsu Houin Kagura, an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and Ishii Locks, the oldest brick lock gate in Japan, which is a National Important Cultural Property.

Sightseeing in Kesennuma and Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture is always accompanied by islands such as Oshima, Kinkasan, and Tsunajishima. The towns and islands, combined with beautiful beaches and scenery, unique shrines and culture, and delicious seafood, will keep tourists entertained to the end.