Ishinomaki tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 13:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Asia/Tokyo local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Last spring tide on Thu 07 May (range 1.1m). Next spring tide on Wed 13 May (range 0.9m). Next neap on Mon 11 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Ishinomaki sits at the mouth of the Kitakami River on Ishinomaki Bay, roughly 50 kilometres northeast of Sendai. The bay is semi-enclosed, opening southeast to the Pacific, with a tidal regime that is semidiurnal and mesotidal — mean range approximately 1.3 metres above MLLW, with spring tide range reaching around 1.5 metres. The river mouth and the shallow bay margins are strongly influenced by tidal cycles: the Kitakami's flow slows and reverses near the mouth through the flood, and the extensive tidal flats along the bay's inner margins expose and cover a significant area each cycle. The bay's sheltered shallow water and nutrient input from the Kitakami system make it one of the most productive oyster and scallop aquaculture zones in Japan. Flat-bottomed aquaculture boats work the raft systems visible at anchor through most of the year. The Ishinomaki fishing port — one of the largest in Miyagi Prefecture — lands volumes of Pacific saury (sanma), mackerel, and squid alongside the aquaculture harvest. The Ishinomaki Seafood Market at the port (Ishinomaki Kasai Market) operates a morning market most days from around 7 a.m., accessible to the public, where the day's catch comes in from the local fleet. Ishinomaki has a second and unexpected cultural identity: the city is the home of manga. Shotaro Ishinomori (pen name derived from the city name) — creator of Kamen Rider, Cyborg 009, and more than 700 series — was born in Miyagi Prefecture and established the city as a comics landmark. The Ishinomori Manga Museum (Mangattan Museum) occupies a building styled as a futuristic capsule on an islet at the waterfront, connected to shore by a short bridge. Bronze manga character statues are distributed through the city centre. The museum and the town's manga heritage attract a younger visitor demographic alongside the fisheries and aquaculture interest. The Kitakami River delta and the outer bay have good shore fishing for flounder (hirame), black sea bream (kurodai), and spotted sea bass (suzuki) particularly around the tidal flat edges at the turn of the tide. The receding tide concentrates fish in the deeper channels alongside the flats; the flood pushes fish up onto the flat edges. Timing casts for an hour either side of low water on spring tides is the local approach. Oshika Peninsula, 30 kilometres to the east, extends into the open Pacific and gives a harder-edged coastal alternative to the bay — rocky headlands, small fishing villages, and open-water exposure that the enclosed bay lacks. Tide predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local pressure gauge. For authoritative Japanese tide tables, consult the Japan Meteorological Agency at jma.go.jp. JMA operates Japan's tsunami warning system; see the FAQ below for the critical distinction between tidal prediction and tsunami warning.