East Asia · Japan
Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
A sunken shrine, Shark City and Japan's cod hole at the mouth of Tokyo Bay
Tateyama sits at the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula, where Tokyo Bay opens to the Pacific, and its harbours run short boat rides to rock reefs fed by the Kuroshio. Hazama's Takane holds a sunken torii and shrine altar, Ito's Okimae-ne is Shark City, with hundreds of banded dogfish circling one patch of seabed, and Nishikawana is known as Japan's cod hole for its longtooth groupers. Up the bay shore, Katsuyama adds the whip-coral walls of Senju Drop.
About diving in Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
Most diving here is by boat, and the rides are short: Okimae-ne lies three minutes out of Ito, and Takane is a short run from the Hazama port. The main Hazama sites are boat points on a relatively calm stretch of coast, among them Takane, the Dream fish-reef point and the Tyre reef. Guides based at Hazama also take divers on request to Ito, Nishikawana and Sakata along the coast, and to Katsuyama inside the bay.
Underwater the ground is rock reef and sand. At Nishikawana large rock reefs break up a sandy bottom, dives average 15 to 16 m, and soft coral gardens grow among rugged rock formations. Hazama was once known for Yoriko, a friendly Asian sheepshead wrasse, and other sheepshead wrasse still live there. Sakata is known for dense beds of sea pens and soft coral, and at Banda the Karoune reef is covered in soft corals and swarms of fish.
Beginners and returning divers are well served: Hazama is calm, Banda is shallow with gentle currents, and Triangle off Kenbutsu reaches only about 7 m (23 ft), is typically free of strong currents and suits a first boat dive. Nishikawana is the exception: Buoy A, its usual entry, often has strong currents and suits intermediate and advanced divers.
Best time to dive Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Diving runs through the whole year, with Hazama sheltered by mountains and capes and Katsuyama calm inside the bay. February and March are the coldest months, the sea near 14°C, and from January to March Japanese cormorants sometimes plunge as deep as 20 m (65 ft) to hunt fish at Shark City. Japanese wobbegong sometimes appear from autumn through spring. May and June are the peak, when schools of eagle rays gather at Nishikawana. From early summer into autumn chicken grunt crowd the water overhead, tropical strays arrive, and the sea warms to about 26°C in August.
Dive types & marine life
Divers at Shark City are often surrounded by hundreds of banded dogfish around one roped-off patch. Nishikawana holds more longtooth groupers than any site in Japan, with green turtles and sometimes giant ones. Eagle ray schools gather in May and June and are seen through summer. Ocean sunfish turn up now and then, and a whale shark passes only every few years, the last in summer 2020.
- Reef
- Wall
- Coral garden
- Groupers
- Eagle rays
- Sea turtles
- Wobbegongs
- Reef fish swarms
Best dive sites in Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
- 1
Takane
Hazama's underwater shrine, a torii and altar about 15 m (49 ft) down.
- 2
Okimae-ne (Shark City)
Roped-off seabed off Ito where hundreds of banded dogfish swirl around divers.
- 3
Buiji-dani
V-shaped valley at Nishikawana where nearly 20 long-barbeled grunter line up in a row.
- 4
Senju Drop
Katsuyama's steep rock walls hung with whip corals and sea fans.
Site guides
Reef
Ōne, the big root rock off Japan's cod hole
Reef
A sacred torii gate and shrine altar standing on the seabed
How to get to Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
The Limited Express Sazanami runs from Tokyo Station to Tateyama Station in about one hour and 45 minutes, followed by a 20-minute local bus to Nishikawana. By car Nishikawana is about two and a half hours via the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line and the Tateyama Expressway. Katsuyama is 90 minutes from central Tokyo by the JR Uchibo Line, highway bus or Tokyo Bay Ferry.
Photos from Tateyama — Hazama, Nishikawana & Ito
photo: Qurren (talk) Taken with Canon PowerShot G9 X · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dive videos
Tateyama Dive Report 11.20.2016 · Discovery Divers Tokyo on YouTube
Diving with sharks in Tateyama, Japan with Dive Zone Tokyo · Klaus Heidrich on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is diving at Tateyama from the shore or by boat?+
Mostly by boat. The Hazama sites are boat points a short ride from the port, Shark City at Ito is three minutes from the harbour, and at Nishikawana a dive in the harbour's eelgrass beds can follow the boat dive.
Is Nishikawana suitable for newly certified divers?+
Not usually. Buoy A, its usual entry, often has strong currents and suits intermediate and advanced divers; Hazama and the shallow, gentle sites at Banda are the calmer choice.
Can Tateyama be dived in winter?+
Yes. Hazama is sheltered by mountains and capes and dived year-round, and a shop working Hazama rents drysuits.
Where is the underwater shrine?+
At Takane off Hazama, where a torii and the altar of Susaki Shrine sit about 15 m (49 ft) below the surface in calm water reached by a short boat ride.
Sources
- Scuba Diving in Chiba: Discover Japan’s Boso Peninsula Dive Sites — PADI Blog
- Scuba Diving in Tateyama | Nishikawana Diving Service — Nishikawana Diving Service
- Ocean Tateyama — Ocean Tateyama
- Futtsu Average Sea Temperatures — seatemperature.org
Photo credits
- A small harbour breakwater below forested green hills on a rocky shoreline, with calm grey-blue sea and a distant coast by photo: Qurren (talk) Taken with Canon PowerShot G9 X, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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