MapJapanChibaKujukuri BeachChiba

Kujukuri Beach

Chiba Prefecture · Sanmu / Kujukuri

also known as Kujukuri-hama, 九十九里浜, Motosuka Beach, 本須賀海岸

Part of Chiba →

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

wavesnot for beginnershigh crowds

On this page

The spot
Wind
Forecast
Month by month
Water
Level
The scene
Launch
Schools
Tips
Getting there
Photos
FAQ

Riding essentials

Season

Jul–Sep

Months riders and schools name

How windy

9.5-12.5 kt

Character: mixed

Room to launch

huge

access rules on record, below

Water

waves

24.9 °C in summerOpen Pacific sand with regular surf and choppy, wave-driven water

Hazards

Reported by riders

Level

Intermediate to advanced

With a caveat: see Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Crowds

high crowds · busy Jul Aug weekends

Schools

named at this spot

From the airport

Narita International Airport (NRT)

Transfer times under Getting there

When it fills in

No onset time is published for this spot.

Kujukuri Beach has no other spot on this map within 40 km of it, and none other in Chiba. straight-line distance

Backup spotsWhere riders go when the wind doesn't work here.

Miurakaigan
Komatsu / Gokitamaru kite beachno page yet
Shirasato Beachno page yet
Ichinomiyano page yet
Onjukuno page yet
Inage / Chiba Tokyo Bayno page yet

The spot

Kujukuri Beach is 66 km of open Pacific sand on Chiba's Boso Peninsula, a surf coast first and a kite coast second. The launch that matters is Motosuka in Sanmu: wide, obstacle-free, shallow-shelving, with its own kite area.

Conditions

Nothing here is lagoon-flat. Wave conditions run 1-3 m, NE/E are the winds that make the beach work, and the Pacific swell and the tide are both in the mix.

Summer strategy

Summer is the complicated part. The official bathing beaches operate in July-August, Motosuka kiting stops for part of that season because of crowds and temporary poles and wires, and Komatsu/Gokitamaru becomes the summer kite beach. July-September gets named as the best season and the water is warm then, but the 12 kt wind-day counts are stronger in March-May, so an August-only plan is the wrong plan.

Outside the summer crowds this is the roomiest ocean option within reach of Tokyo, and you still handle the shorebreak, the rip currents and the surfers yourself, with no dedicated rescue behind you.

The wind

locals call it Pacific sea breeze / synoptic coastal winds

Direction

cross-on

Direction to shore

cross-on

Dominant direction

SSW from April through August, NNE from September through November, WNW from December through February. NE and E are the onshore directions that make the beach work; the winter WNW blows straight off the land.

Kite sizes

678910111213141516

metres · typical quiver highlighted

The quiver, in words

8-14 m.

Character

mixed

Average strength

8-10 kt monthly averages; no official long-term station statistic was available for Kujukuri/Shirasato.

Typical strength

Two stations bracket this coast. On the exposed Choshi headland at the north end, monthly mean wind runs 4.9-6.4 m/s, roughly 9.5-12.5 kt, peaking February through April and again in October. Four kilometres inland behind Motosuka the mean is only 1.7-2.6 m/s, so any inland reading badly understates the beach. Rideable days sit above both: forecast pages commonly show 5.6-5.9 m/s, about 11-12 kt, as a good session.

Exposed-coast wind with useful summer sea-breeze days and synoptic/windswell days; southerly days can build from morning, but no consistent daily onset is published.

Seasons and wind direction

March through May and October are the windiest stretches on the long record for this coast. The prevailing direction turns SSW from April through August, NNE from September through November, and WNW in December to February - and WNW is offshore on a beach that faces east-southeast.

The seasonal trade-off

That is the tension here: July to September is the season most often named for kiting and the water is warm, but the wind-day counts are better in spring.

Summer beach zoning

Summer beach zoning is the other half of it, displacing kiting from Motosuka to the Komatsu/Gokitamaru kite beach for part of the official bathing season.

Forecast

Live forecast

Windguru Windfinder Windy

Month by month

11 ktJan16°
11 ktFeb14°
11 ktMar15°
10 ktApr16°
10 ktMay19°
9 ktJun21°
8 ktJul23°
8 ktAug26°
9 ktSep24°
10 ktOct22°
10 ktNov20°
10 ktDec18°

avg knots per month · water °C below · season highlighted

Modelled monthly averages. Highlighted: the months riders and schools name (Aug, Jul, Sep).

Modelled from weather reanalysis on a 10–25 km grid (~30-yr modeled reanalysis (exact span not shown on page)), not a ground station: reliable for trade and synoptic winds, understates thermal sea breezes and valley winds.

Every figure, month by monthKnots · Wind from · Air · Water

Month	Knots	Wind from	Air	Water
Jan	10.8 kt	N	10 °C	15.6 °C
Feb	11 kt	N	10.6 °C	14.4 °C
Mar	11 kt	N	12.8 °C	15 °C
Apr	10.4 kt	S	17.2 °C	16.1 °C
May	9.5 kt	S	21.1 °C	18.9 °C
Jun	8.5 kt	S	23.3 °C	21.1 °C
Jul	8.3 kt	S	26.7 °C	23.3 °C
Aug	8.2 kt	S	28.3 °C	25.6 °C
Sep	9.2 kt	E	25.6 °C	24.4 °C
Oct	9.6 kt	N	21.1 °C	22.2 °C
Nov	9.7 kt	N	16.7 °C	20 °C
Dec	10.3 kt	N	12.2 °C	17.8 °C

How this is modelledmodelled · ~30-yr modeled reanalysis (exact span not shown on page)

A weather model's cell over this place, not a station on it. Good for comparing places, weaker for one beach.

The typical daily max and the direction are columns of the table above, month by month. Highlighted months are the riding season from the spot record.

Mobara · WeatherSpark (MERRA-2 reanalysis climatology) · ~30-yr modeled reanalysis (exact span not shown on page)

The water

Type

waves

Standing depth

The Motosuka launch shelves shallow (遠浅), while the broader Kujukuri kite spot is put at >2 m. Check the depth at whichever launch you end up using.

Tides

Semidiurnal, and small enough that it never runs the session. The Katsuura gauge down the coast predicts 2026 levels between about -0.25 m and +1.6 m above datum; an ordinary day moves around 1.15 m, the biggest springs about 1.8 m.On a beach this flat and this long, swell size and the shape of the sandbars matter far more than tide height.

Temperature

24.9 °C summer · 14.5 °C winter

Modelled monthly average: 14–26 °C

Wetsuit

August water averages about 24.9 °C at Kujukuri; boardshorts/rash vest or a shorty may be enough depending on wind. February averages about 14.5 °C, so use a full wetsuit; nearby Choshi guidance suggests 4/3 mm or 3/2 mm with boots around the late-winter minimum.

Currents

Rip currents are the standing risk on this coast. Irregular flows set up as soon as the swell size comes up, and some run fast straight offshore. Read the water before rigging, and come in if anything feels wrong - the beach warnings are explicit that the pattern changes with wave height rather than with tide.

Conditions

Open Pacific sand with regular surf and choppy, wave-driven water. Wave conditions run 1-3 m at the kitesurfing spot. No reef hazard at either of the kite launches.

Your level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

not for beginners here

Motosuka is wide and obstacle-free, it shelves shallow, and you can progress there safely. Kujukuri as a whole reads intermediate: >2 m depth and 1-3 m waves. Lessons at Motosuka work for a beginner under supervision, but this is not an independent beginner flat-water spot.

The scene

What riders come here for

wavesfreeridesurfboardwingfoildownwinders

Who it suitsbeginner

Tokyo/Chiba weekend beach culture: surfers, bodyboarders, SUP, families in bathing season, seafood shacks and local kite regulars. Motosuka is popular enough that summer kiting is moved/limited for safety.

Launch and rules

three ways on to the water, and what each one asks of you

With a school or a boat

2 schools name this spot

See who they are

On your own

Room to launch: huge

Read the access rules

Somewhere else

No neighbour on record

No other spot in the atlas sits within reach of this one.

Rescue

No kite-specific rescue and no boat cover. Lifeguards work inside the official bathing beach only, and only while it is open - the 2026 Sanmu season closed on 23 August, after which the city states there are no lifeguards and asks people not to swim, though the sand and the water's edge stay usable.

Sea accidents go to 118, the Coast Guard emergency number; 119 for ambulance. In practice the safety net is the local shop and whoever else is on the beach, which is why first-time visitors are asked to check in before riding.

Launch

The main kite launch is Motosuka Beach on the Kujukuri coast.The kiteboarding area is to the left of the drainage outlet when facing the sea; keep gear away from the waterline because emergency, fishing and horse-riding traffic may pass there.In summer bathing season, Komatsu / Gokitamaru kite beach is used instead, with its own parking and access rules.

Hazards riders report 12 reported

Wind

Offshore or cross-offshore winds are not suitable for unsupervised riding on this exposed coast
Winter WNW is offshore here; it is the prevailing direction from December through February.

Crowds and zones

Crowded bathing beach in summer
Seasonal beach PA poles/electric wires at Motosuka during bathing season.
Emergency, fishing and horse-riding vehicles/traffic along the shoreline
Break-ins and vehicle theft in the Motosuka beach car park, aimed at surfers and their cars.
No lifeguard cover outside the bathing season, which in 2026 ran 11 July to 23 August.

Waves and currents

Pacific swell/shorebreak
Open Pacific shorebreak and surf
Rip currents and irregular currents when swell increases

Other

winter NE windswell
No dedicated kite rescue

Rules & access

1 min read

2026: the Motosuka bathing beach ran 11 July to 23 August; inside the bathing area surfing, finned bodyboarding and marine jets are prohibited, and marine sports are allowed outside it. From 24 August the city states there are no lifeguards and asks people not to swim, while sand and shoreline use stay permitted.

Kiting hours

2026: kiting at Motosuka is stopped for a summer window - published locally as roughly mid-July to mid-August - because of crowds and temporary poles and wires on the beach, with the alternate beach and the exact dates announced by the local shop.

Local kite rules

2026 local kite rules at Motosuka:

ride left of the drainage outlet,
keep gear off the waterline,
never leave lines trailing,
respect the horse-riding rules,
check in with staff on a first visit, and
carry liability insurance.

Membership

2026 JKBA membership is 2,000 yen joining plus 3,000 yen a year, running 1 June to 31 May, and automatically carries third-party liability cover of 100 million yen for bodily injury plus property damage, per accident; JKBA itself publishes no beach-level membership requirement, so the obligation comes from the local shop's rules.

Parking

2026: Motosuka beach parking is 5:00-21:00 at 500 yen a car, 100 yen a motorcycle, 700 yen medium, 1,000 yen large per entry, and every road around the beach is no-parking, with illegal parking reported to the police.

Restrictions

Vehicle entry onto Kujukuri beaches is prohibited under the Chiba prefectural natural park ordinance except for authorised vehicles, and camping, barbecues and fires are prohibited at Motosuka. Fishing rights cover the whole of Kujukuri: taking hamaguri clams and other shellfish is prohibited.

Access rules drift faster than anything else we hold — check locally, and propose an edit if this has changed.

Schools that ride here

Rider tips

Check in with the local kite shop or the active local group before your first session at Motosuka; the published rules ask first-time visitors to talk to staff.
Park in the beach car park, 500 yen a car (2026), and never on the road. Every road around Motosuka is no-parking, and break-ins and vehicle theft aimed at surfers are a running problem in the car park itself.
Ride left of the drainage outlet and keep gear off the waterline; emergency vehicles, fishing traffic and horse riding pass along the shore.
Confirm the dates before you drive out in summer. Motosuka closes to kites for roughly mid-July to mid-August and Komatsu/Gokitamaru takes over.
Carry proof of third-party liability cover. The local rules require it, and JKBA membership (2026: 2,000 yen joining, 3,000 yen a year) carries 100 million yen of it automatically.
Save 118, the Coast Guard number for accidents at sea. Outside the bathing window, 11 July to 23 August in 2026, there are no lifeguards on this stretch.

Getting there

Airport

Narita International Airport (NRT) is the closest major airport, about 26.55 km from Kujukuri. Haneda (HND) is farther out but also works for Tokyo access.

Route

For Motosuka, buses run from JR Naruto Station platform 1 to Naruto Kaigan, with a temporary summer bus to Motosuka Beach and the Water Garden.By car, leave the Ken-O Expressway at Sanmu-Naruto IC and take Prefectural Routes 76 and 121 for about 12 km.Without a car from Tokyo, take the JR Sobu Line to Togane, then a bus or taxi.

Transfer

20-25 min taxi from JR Naruto Station to Motosuka; about 30 min drive from Sanmu-Naruto IC to Motosuka; no airport-to-beach transfer time is published.

Cost level

medium

Staying

Beach-area lodging is mainly local hotels, ryokan, pensions/minshuku and surf-oriented stays along the Kujukuri coast; no kite-friendly storage or accommodation is published.

No-wind days

Surfing and SUP on Kujukuri, seafood and grilled clams/iwashi, Umi-no-Eki Kujukuri market/restaurant, Hasunuma Seaside Park/Water Garden area, beach walks/sunrise, and Narita-area stopovers if flying via NRT.

Photos

FAQ

When is the best time to kite at Kujukuri?

July-September is often cited as the best season, though 12 knot wind-day counts are actually higher in March-May.

Is Kujukuri suitable for beginners?

Motosuka is described as wide and obstacle-free for supervised progression, but public spot guides list Kujukuri as intermediate rather than a standalone beginner beach.

What is the wind like?

NE and E winds dominate, with monthly averages around 8-10 knots in a mix of summer sea-breeze and synoptic days.

Are there rules or restricted zones?

2026 Motosuka bathing season runs July 11-August 23, when kiting there is stopped for crowd and safety reasons and Komatsu/Gokitamaru is used instead.

What hazards should riders know about?

Rip currents can occur on this open sandy coast, and no dedicated kite rescue is confirmed outside official bathing-beach lifeguard hours.

The bigger pictureEverything about Chiba

Last updated: August 2026