The is a coastal region on the Pacific Ocean, extending from southern Aomori prefecture

Aomori Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region. The capital is the city of Aomori.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Aomori prefecture was known as Mutsu Province....

, through Iwate prefecture

Iwate Prefecture

is the second largest prefecture of Japan after Hokkaido. It is located in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island and contains the island's easternmost point. The capital is Morioka. Iwate has the lowest population density of any prefecture outside Hokkaido...

 and northern Miyagi prefecture

Miyagi Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku Region on Honshu island. The capital is Sendai.- History :Miyagi Prefecture was formerly part of the province of Mutsu. Mutsu Province, on northern Honshu, was one of the last provinces to be formed as land was taken from the indigenous Emishi, and became the...

 in northeastern Honshū

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

, which is Japan's main island. The name comes from the historical region of Sanriku

Sanriku

is a historical region of Japan on the northeastern side of the island of Honshu, corresponding to today's Aomori, Iwate and parts of Miyagi Prefecture...

 (or "three riku"), referring to the former provinces of Rikuō and Rikuchū

Rikuchu Province

was an old province in the area of Iwate and Akita prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Rikuzen and Mutsu Provinces.Rikuchu covered most of modern-day Iwate Prefecture, with the exceptions of Kesen District, Rikuzentakata City, Ōfunato City, and Kamaishi City, and also including Kazuno City...

 (in present-day Aomori) and Rikuzen

Rikuzen Province

is an old province of Japan in the area of Miyagi and some parts of Iwate prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Rikuchū and Mutsu Provinces.-History:...

 (in Miyagi).

Tourist destination

There are the Tanesashi Coast, the Rikuchu Kaigan National Park

Rikuchu Kaigan National Park

is a national park in the Tohoku region of Honshū in northern Japan. The park extends for 180 kilometers from north to south along the coastline of the Pacific Ocean from northern Miyagi prefecture to northern Iwate prefecture...

 and the Minami-Sanriku Kinkazan Quasi-National Park in the Sanriku Coast region.

Earthquakes and tsunami

The bays of this irregular coastline tend to amplify the destructiveness of tsunami waves. Significant events which devastated coastal communities include:

• 869 Sanriku earthquake and tsunami
  869 Sanriku earthquake and tsunami
  The struck the area around Sendai in the northern part of Honshu on 9 July 869 . The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 8.6 on the surface wave magnitude scale...
  
  
• 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake
  1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake
  The 1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake was highly destructive, generating one of the most devastating tsunamis in Japanese history, destroying about 9,000 homes and causing at least 22,000 deaths. This magnitude 7.2 event occurred at 19:32 on June 15, 1896...
  
  
• 1933 Sanriku earthquake
  1933 Sanriku earthquake
  The was a major earthquake whose associated tsunami caused widespread damage to towns on the Sanriku coast of the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan on March 2, 1933.-History:The epicenter of the 1933 Sanriku earthquake was located offshore,...
  
  
• 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
  2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
  The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
  
  

Prior to 2011, the tsunami history of Sanriku might have been interpreted as a story of progressively fewer casualties due to human intervention and planning. The 2011 disaster created a new baseline for analysis of regularly occurring tsunamis.