title: Hokuriku Tales vol.3

Summary

A book of five stories about Fukui, Ishikawa and Toyama with useful data vol.3

Yasumaru Exquisite Water, afountain belonging to the HakusanMikawa Subsoil Water Groupagglomeration of tuff stones of strange shapes resulting from abrasion. The placewas so named because the discovery of fractions of Haji- and Sue-styleearthenware dating to the Nara Period led to an explanation that a wealthyfamily of the time lived in this place. Today, some people call the spot“Cappadocia of Japan,”which is a comparison well made.The Tojinbo columnar joint is one of the world’sthree such gigantic joints.Tojinbo is a series of some 25-meter high dacite cliffs that have been formedby the abrasion of sea waves. The rocks that look like bundles of pillars aretermed columnar joints which were formed by the contraction of magma in theprocess of cooling down and solidifying. There are only two other columnar jointsof this scale in the world. Tojinbo is a national natural monument and a scenicbeauty.The nearby area called Echizen Matsushima comprises many isles withcolumnar joints. The joints stick out in different directions; the whole area lookslike an open-air museum of columnar joints. One such isle, Gumijima, has a placewhere columnar joints have fallen to horizontal positions. They presentthemselves as a stairway that Mother Nature has constructed.Wakasa Bay, the best place to end your geo-tour in HokurikuMikata Goko is the name given to the group of 5 lakes in the Mikata region ofFukui that were formed by fault activity. The salt content of lake water differsfrom one lake to another, ranging from sweet water to sea water. Accordingly,the biota is different and, if you take an view from Mt. Baijodake (observationdeck of the Mikata Goko Rainbow Line toll road) you will notice subtle butThe columnar joints on Gumijima Isle inEchizen Matsushima looks like a stairwaycreated by Nature. (photo by: YasunobuYoshizawa)Tojinbo, a series of columnar jointcliffs, is truly world class in scale andis a leading geo-spot in Hokuriku.36 Hokuriku Tales vol.3