Walk Across The Sea to Chiringa-shima | KAGOSHIMA Visitors' GUIDE

Click HERE for information about the sandbar appearance times (July & August 2019)
(important: the sandbar linking the island to the mainland is only exposed at certain low tides, and then only for a limited time.
Do not try to cross outside of these times).

Chiringa-shima (知林ヶ島)

Chiringa-sima is an uninhabited island just inside the entrance to Kinko bay near National Park Resort IBUSUKI (Kyuka-mura IBUSUKI / 休暇村指宿).

An 800m long sandbar appears at low tide during the flood tide or the middle tide from March to October.

The sandbar appears as a little winding path in the sea, and you can cross to the island along this path.
It gives you a special feeling to walk across the sandbar from the Ibusuki side to the island. It takes about 20 minutes to the island. The longest time the sandbar appears is for five hours.

Matchmaking Island

The island is known as a matchmaking island. This place was used as a shooting location for a TV drama, and many couples visit the island.
There are several things for these people there.

♡ Chirin’s Heart

Two different sized objects are placed on the Ibusuki shore. Depending on the angle to see these objects, they look heart-shaped. It is a good place to take some pictures against the background of Chiringa-shima.

♡ Chi-kai (Chi貝)

Tie a shell on which you write your wish on a chain on the “Chikai-no Oka (誓貝の丘) at the entrance of the sandbar.
Shells (200 yen each) are sold at Ibusuki City Tourist Information Center at JR Ibusuki Station and National Park Resort IBUSUKI (Kyuka-mura IBUSUKI / 休暇村指宿).

he shells which are tied on the chain will be dedicated to Ryugu Shrine (龍宮神社) in Ibusuki after a while.

♡ Chirin’s BELL

Chirin’s BELL is located on the hill of Chirin-ga Shima. It is said if you ring the bell praying for happiness, your wish will be fulfilled. The view from this place is great, too.

Walking Across The Sea

Waking across the sea is really exciting experience.
But, it is still the sea, so you need to be careful. If anything happened, a fun day could be turned into a terrible day.

Please do not try to walk across to the island in bad weather.

The path disappears very quickly once the tide starts to come in, so check the appearance time of the path and give yourself plenty of time to across back.

The tide current is very fast around the sandbar, so if the sandbar isn’t visible, please do not walk across.

Some blue-ringed octopuses (Hyomon-dako / ヒョウモンダコ) have been seen on the shores of Ibusuki city. They are about 5cm~10cm long and they have brown patches like Panthers’. When they are agitated, iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear.
If you are bitten by one of them, you might not feel it directly; however, it injects a venom powerful enough to kill a human. The venom causes respiratory arrest.

Do not touch them. They live in shallow water and coastal rocks.

Sandbar Appearance Time (predicted) And The Amount of Time Visible

July 2019

Date		Sandbar Appearance Time	Length of Time
1/7	Mon	9:10 ~ 15:00	5h50m
2/7	Tue	9:50 ~ 15:50	6h
3/7	Wed	10:30 ~ 16:35	6h5m
4/7	Thu	11:15 ~ 17:25	6h10分
5/7	Fri	12:05 ~ 18:05	6h
6/7	Sat	12:55 ~ 18:45	5h50m
7/7	Sun	13:55 ~ 19:20	5h25m
8/7	Mon	15:00 ~ 19:30	4h30m
9/7	Tue	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
10/7	Wed	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
11/7	Thu	7:00 ~ 10:45	3h45m
12/7	Fri	7:35 ~ 12:15	4h40m
13/7	Sat	8:15 ~ 13:25	5h10m
14/7	Sun	8:50 ~ 14:20	5h30m
15/7	Mon	9:30 ~ 15:05	5h35m
16/7	Tue	10:05 ~ 15:45	5h40m
17/7	Wed	10:45 ~ 16:25	5h40m
18/7	Thu	11:25 ~ 16:55	5h30m
19/7	Fri	12:00 ~ 17:25	5h25m
20/7	Sat	12:40 ~ 17:50	5h10m
21/7	Sun	13:20 ~ 18:10	4h50m
22/7	Mon	14:10 ~ 18:30	4h20m
23/7	Tue	15:00 ~ 18:40	3h40m
24/7	Wed	16:10 ~ 18:45	2h35m
25/7	Thu	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
26/7	Fri	6:35 ~ 9:10	2h35m
27/7	Sat	7:10 ~ 11:00	3h50m
28/7	Sun	7:45 ~ 12:30	4h45m
29/7	Mon	8:20 ~ 13:35	5h15m
30/7	Tue	8:55 ~ 14:35	5h40m
31/7	Wed	9:40 ~ 15:30	5h50m

August 2019

Date		Sandbar Appearance Time	Length of Time
1/8	Thu	10:15 ~ 16:30	6h15m
2/8	Fri	11:05 ~ 17:10	6h05m
3/8	Sat	11:55 ~ 17:50	5h55m
4/8	Sun	12:50 ~ 18:20	5h30m
5/8	Mon	13:45 ~ 18:50	5h05m
6/8	Tue	14:50 ~ 19:05	4h15m
7/8	Wed	16:15 ~19:05	2h50m
8/8	Thu	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
9/8	Fri	5:55 ~ 10:40	4h45m
10/8	Sat	6:50 ~ 12:10	5h20m
11/8	Sun	7:40 ~ 13:20	5h40m
12/8	Mon	8:30 ~ 14:10	5h40m
13/8	Tue	9:10 ~ 14:55	5h45m
14/8	Wed	9:50 ~ 15:30	5h40m
15/8	Thu	10:30 ~ 16:00	5h30m
16/8	Fri	11:05 ~ 16:30	5h25m
17/8	Sat	11:45 ~ 16:55	5h10m
18/8	Sun	12:20 ~ 17:20	5h
19/8	Mon	13:00 ~ 17:35	4h35m
20/8	Tue	13:40 ~ 17:50	4h10m
21/8	Wed	14:30 ~ 18:00	3h30m
22/8	Thu	15:35～18:05	2h30m
23/8	Fri	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
24/8	Sat	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
25/8	Sun	5:50 ~ 10:35	4h45m
26/8	Mon	6:45 ~ 12:15	5h30m
27/8	Tue	7:40 ~ 13:25	5h45m
28/8	Wed	8:30 ~ 14:25	5h55m
29/8	Thu	9:25 ~ 15:15	5h50m
30/8	Fir	10:15 ~ 16:00	5h45m
31/8	Sat	11:05 ~ 16:35	5h30m