Katsurahama Beach

Katsurahama is one of Japan's three most celebrated scenic shores (alongside Shirahama in Wakayama and Omi-Maiko in Shiga), and has been immortalised in poetry, art, and legend for over a thousand years. Located on the coast south of Kochi City in Shikoku, the beach is a dramatic crescent of dark sand where the full force of the Pacific Ocean breaks against the shore below a steep pine-covered headland. The powerful surf and dangerous rip currents mean swimming is prohibited year-round — but this only adds to the beach's wild, elemental character.

Katsurahama is most famous for its magnificent statue of Sakamoto Ryoma — one of the most celebrated figures of the Japanese Meiji Revolution of the 19th century. Ryoma was born near Kochi and helped orchestrate the alliance that ended the Tokugawa shogunate and restored imperial rule. He stands atop a stone plinth at the north end of the beach, 5.6 metres tall, gazing dramatically out to sea as if contemplating the world beyond Japan. This is one of Japan's most photographed statues and a pilgrimage site for Japanese history enthusiasts.

Adjacent to the beach is the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum — a superb modern museum exploring his life and legacy. The beach area also features an aquarium, a traditional fighting dog arena (Tosa fighting dogs, a distinctive Kochi breed, are Japan's largest dog breed and have been raised here for centuries), and souvenir shops selling Kochi's famous yuzu citrus products and katsuobushi (bonito flakes). The pine-forested headland provides walking paths above dramatic cliffs overlooking the Pacific, and the sunset views from the promontory are extraordinary.