Cape Toi: Wild Horses and an Abandoned Hotel

The third of November was a perfect autumn day. The sun was a warm blanket in the car and the crisp, sea air blowing through the window was cool enough to prickle the skin. It’s like having a superpower, I thought, as we winded around bend after bend—being able to feel the cold and heat independently but at the same time. It was the third day of Matthew’s visit and we were headed down the Nichinan Coast to see the wild horses of Cape Toi.

Cape Toi is the southernmost point of Miyazaki prefecture, home to a population of native Misaki Uma horses and a 90 000 m² coral colony. It’s also the location of the annual Cape Toi fire festival.

After stopping a few times to soak in the endless glitter that is the Hyuga-nada Sea, we arrived at the Komadome gate and drove straight into an Enid Blyton novel.

Our first stop was the Cape Toi Lighthouse, which is the only public-entry lighthouse in Kyushu. Atop a 255-m (837 ft) cliff, it offers views all the way to the Osumi Peninsula in Kagoshima. On a clear day, that is. We could see as far as the haze would allow us, until the horizon disappeared into sky.

Next, we headed down to the Visitor Center, which is essentially a museum, complete with horse dioramas, photographs and videos about the history of the horses, and other animal and plant life in the area.

Down the road from the Visitor Center, we spotted a pair of Misaki roaming the parking lot together, one particularly interested in a silver car parked nearby. We got up pretty close and some other visitors even gave them a pat, but after the spooked horse in Kimotsuki, I thought it best to keep a reasonable distance.

The Misaki are one of eight native breeds to Japan, descended from horses brought from China about 2000 years ago. After WWII, the number of Misaki had drastically reduced, and the100 head left today at Cape Toi have been designated a national monument.

At only about 13.2 h.h, the horses look more like ponies and range from bay or black to chestnut in colour.

We headed up to Ogi Hill after that, where the radio tower sits. It was pretty deserted and we were the only people up there, but the views from the top were amazing. At one point, I just plopped down on the grass and sat there, trying to take it all in. At any moment, I expected to see Julian, Anne, Dick and George come over the hill, with Timmy trailing behind.

On our way back up to the gate, we decided to pull over at an abandoned hotel and take a look around.

It’s rumoured to have been vacant since the 1980s. I guess the architecture points to that period, but when we got out of the car and started looking around, the near-perfect stacks of plates and hanging curtains cast doubt in my mind. Could those really have survived through 30-odd years of rain, typhoons and earthquakes? And for a place so close to the sea, where was all the rust?

DanL917 confirms on TripAdvisor that the hotel has been standing with broken windows since as far back as 2003, so who knows. It’s a hard task trying to find information on the hotel. The building doesn’t even show up on map view in Google Maps even though its impossible to miss from the road.

Most of the doorways are boarded up with newish-looking wood, but some of the panels don’t fit so it would be easy to squeeze your way in. But the hotel is technically still private property, so one can never be too careful.

I settled on peeping through the glass front doors where my eyes met a very strange scene; a chair in the middle of the room, positioned so that the person sitting in it might look up from their book or newspaper and look out to where I was standing. With the curtains still hung and the soft yellow glow of sunlight peeking in, I could see how it might once been a warm and inviting place.

I was so lost in thought that I almost didn’t hear Matthew calling. “Dude, come check this out! Look what I found!”

I chased his voice to the side of the hotel, and we fought our way through the overgrowth of what was once the garden. In a small clearing stood five or six horses, peacefully grazing for a lunchtime snack. If there was ever a reason to jump security rope, this was it.

We stood watching the horses for a while. Every now and then, I found myself looking up to the windows of the hotel. I kept imagining I would suddenly see someone staring down at me. For an abandoned place, it doesn’t feel very empty.

We left the horses to their meal, and returned to the side of the house. An old fridge lying on its side caught my eye. It was next to a side door and an opening of some kind leading to an underground tunnel. I edged closer to take a look.

It was pitch dark and looked menacing as hell. I could hear an eerie wailing coming from the tunnel, a practical joke played by the wind. I wondered if it led to a building we had seen behind the garden on a lower level hiding in the brush. Maybe that’s where the owners used to stay.

On the other side of the hotel you can get right up close to a few doors with broken windows. In what was presumably the kitchen, stacks of plates still line the shelves on the wall. The entranceway to the old parking lot is completely open, although awash with debris, crates of supplies and old furniture.

The laundry room still has a pile of linen stacked against one of the windows, and the guest bathroom is in surprisingly good shape. It’s as if everyone left after work one day and just never came back.

A squeaking door interrupted my thoughts and we decided to get going after that; it was approaching the latter half of the afternoon and we still wanted to see Udo Shrine.

On the way out, I noticed a bunch of cars had pulled over next to Komatsu Hill and we discovered that an entire herd of Misaki were grazing there. It was incredible to be so close to them and watch them go about their day.

Visit Cape Toi

To enter the Cape Toi area, you must pass through the Komagome Gate and pay a small fee, which goes to the Wild Horse Protection Cooperation Fund.

Hours: 08:30~18:00 (Apr–Sep); 08:00~17:00 (Oct–Mar)

Admission: 400 yen per vehicle/100 yen per motorcycle

Website (in Japanese)