Tengu Rock
Tengu Rock is a large triangular cliff that faces the Hoki River near the Fukuwata Bridge. It is composed of “green tuff,” a sedimentary rock formed mostly from volcanic ash. A wide belt of green tuff stretches hundreds of kilometers along the northwest side of Honshū, the main island of Japan.
Legend has it that supernatural creatures called tengu once lived on top of this rock. One day, they threw flames down on the Buddhist monk Kūkai (774–835) as he was passing on the road below. Kūkai disciplined the mischievous tengu by throwing a massive boulder at them, and the area is said to have been peaceful ever since.