Shimokita Peninsula and the Wild Horses

We are coming into our final year here in Japan (less than a year at the time of publishing) so I had started putting together a list of all my must-sees before we move on to our next adventure.  The weekend after the trip out to the west coast to see the Takayama Inari shrine we got in the car and headed up north.  All the way north!  

We live in the northern region of the island of Honshu, and although we are pretty much as far north as you can go, there is still more land on this island that is further north.  There are different areas (technically known as capes) on the Shimokita peninsula.  We decided to start with Cape Shiriya on the eastern side of the peninsula so we could see the wild horses.

The horses are definitely wild, but more like free range than anything else.  They are familiar enough with people that they do not run off if you try to pet them.  They are have a large area to roam free in and plenty of wooded and secluded areas.  There is a gate located at both ends of the road the goes around the northern end of the cape so the horses can't get out.

Below are my pictures of the horses.  We drove through twice and on both passes we spotted groups of horses in different areas.  They were beautiful!  And a lot bigger than I had expected.

This is the northernmost spot on this side and is bordered by water.  Lots of cliffs and beautiful coastline scenery.

Just hanging out by the side of the road.

Here is a map.  You can see where we are in relation to the north easter tip of Honshu.

We even walked down to the water.

Here I am.  Obviously this was a while ago because there is no way I could wear a tank top in the current weather!  The road to the horses is also closed now for the winter.

Some birds hanging out on a rock in the ocean.

And then a storm started to roll in!  You can see the rain in the distance.  So we decided we better hurry up and check out the famous lighthouse before we needed to move on...quickly!

Love these horses!

With the storm rolling in and having seen multiple groups of horses we were content and ready to make the ~3 hour drive back home.  It was definitely worth the drive!

QUESTION:  Have you ever seen wild horses?  Where did you go on your last road trip?