Shutogashima Coast is known for its rocky shoreline and its beautiful blue-green waters. The shallows here provide an inviting place to wade or swim. It is equally famous for the tiny island just offshore, connected to the beach by a causeway of flat rocks.
In fact, this stretch of flat rocks is a reminder of the formation of the Goto Islands. These rocks were made from the basic layers of sandstone and mudstone that accumulated over time to form the Goto Group stratum that underlies these islands. They are the top layer of the Goto Group, exposed by ages of wind and wave erosion.
On these flat rocks you can find footprints of large animals, such as rhinoceroses, that walked on them eons ago when today’s rocks were still a marshy wetland that was connected to the Eurasian continent. This small, rocky island has been designated a nature conservation area by Nagasaki Prefecture.