黒潮町（くろしおちょう）は、「人が元気、自然が元気、地域が元気」を合言葉に高知県幡多郡「大方町（おおがたちょう）」と「佐賀町（さがちょう）」が合併し、平成18年3月20日に新しいまちとして誕生しました。
四国西南地域にあり、高知県西部の幡多郡（はたぐん）の玄関口となる町です。
気候は、年間平均気温17度、降雨量2800mm前後。この南国特有の温暖で雨が多い気候を活かした、施設園芸や花卉、水稲を中心とした農業や、シメジやシイタケなどの栽培も行われています。また、日本古来の伝統漁法でこの地域では営々と営まれている「土佐カツオ一本釣り漁業」が盛んで、近年は完全天日塩も代表的な特産物となっています。
人口10,000人弱の小さな町に世界で一つだけの、そしておそらく世界で一番大きな美術館があります。それは、「私たちの町には美術館がありません。美しい砂浜が美術館です。」をコンセプトとした4kmの砂浜を「美術館」に見立てたもの。美しい松原や沖を泳ぐクジラ、流れ着く漂流物、浜で遊ぶ人々や暮らしの営みなどのありのままの風景のほか、初夏の「Tシャツアート展」や「シーサイドはだしマラソン」、秋の「潮風のキルト展」といった企画展など、各々に自由に見つけた作品を楽しむことができます。
4kmの砂浜から始まったこの町の美術館は、今、この町そのものを美術館にしています。
What kind of place is Kuroshio?
Located in the southwest of Kochi Prefecture, Kuroshio has a thriving industry for pole-and-line fishing of Tosa skipjack tuna, which uses traditional Japanese fishing methods tracing back to ancient times. In recent years, sun-dried salt has also become a popular specialty product.
Agriculture is also flourishing in Kuroshio, with cultivation of shimeji and shiitake mushrooms, flowers, and paddy rice. Kuroshio is a small town of only 11,000 people.
There is no art gallery in the town of Kuroshio. Instead, the expansive 4km stretch of beautiful beach serves as the backdrop for Kuroshiro’s Seaside Gallery. The beautiful pine grove and whales that can be seen in the ocean are artworks, as are the children running barefoot on the beach looking for shells, the people surfing, and the footprints of birds. In addition, the seasonal events of the t-shirt art exhibition, the barefoot seaside marathon and the salt-breeze quilt exhibition are well worth the visit to Kuroshiro to discover a work of art.
Activities in Kuroshio
You can experience many cultural and historical activities in Kuroshio: making Kochi’s traditional dish of straw-seared skipjack tuna, in which you clean the skipjack tuna and then straw-sear it; making Wakayama Kozo (paper mulberry) washi in a production area of paper mulberry, a raw material used for making washi, that is regarded as the highest quality in Japan; making local sushi, using ingredients such as wild vegetables from the forest; and making sun-dried salt, which is made from seawater using only the power of the sun and wind. As Kuroshio faces the Pacific Ocean, you can also enjoy marine activities such as sea kayaking, whale watching, surfing and fishing.
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Sightseeing spots in Kuroshio
Irino Beach, which hosts the Seaside Gallery, is known as the “Lake Uyuni of Kochi,” and the water mirror phenomenon often occurs. When this mirror-world appears during the t-shirt art exhibition, you can witness the magical scenery of the t-shirts reflecting over the water. Running along the Irino coastline is a beautiful landscape of hundreds of thousands of black pines at the center of a forest reserve, which were cultivated in the Chosokabe Motochika era.
In the Saga district, the Shioya Beach offers a different scenery from Irino, with a white, wonderful view and many shells washed up that you can enjoy collecting.
Food in Kuroshio
As Kuroshio’s most famous export is Tosa skipjack tuna pole-and-line fishing, if you visit Kuroshi, you have to try the seared skipjack tuna. In Kuroshio, you can enjoy seared skipjack tuna with the local specialty of sun-dried salt. We recommend changing the taste with a dipping sauce as well.
Fish in Kuroshio is extremely fresh, so you can taste incredibly fresh sashimi and other seafood.
Kuroshio has a strong image of seafood, but there are also many local mountain products, such as delicious vegetables and edible wild plants.
Accommodation in Kuroshio
Kuroshio has many hotels with panoramic views of the ocean, as well as cottage rentals and guesthouses that are renovated old Japanese-style homes with a charming Japanese feel to them. You can have fun with your friends or relax with your family.
There are also campgrounds next to the beaches, so you can enjoy a range of activities such as surfing, swimming and fishing.
Why don’t you take a break from your daily life, forget about time and relax in Kuroshio?
一般社団法人 黒潮町観光ネットワーク
