Kirishima-Kinkowan

Kirishima-Kinkowan lies at the southern tip of Kyushu, between the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki, and was declared in 1934: it forms part of the first group of Japanese national parks, created that year. It brings together two distinct volcanic settings under a single designation.

The first is the Kirishima massif, an active volcanic field made up of more than twenty clustered cones and craters, with intensely coloured crater lakes, fumaroles and numerous hot springs on its lower slopes. It is a central place in Japanese mythology: according to the founding narrative, the grandson of the sun goddess descended to earth on Mount Takachiho, in this massif. Several of its volcanoes have erupted in recent times, which governs access to particular trails.

The second is Kinko Bay, or Kagoshima Bay, a great marine caldera at the centre of which rises Sakurajima, one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, which emits ash over the city of Kagoshima almost daily and whose 1914 eruption joined it to the Osumi peninsula. The park also includes stretches of coast, islands and the waters of the bay, with their associated marine life, and on land the wildlife characteristic of the mountains of Kyushu: sika deer, Japanese macaque and an abundant forest and water birdlife.