The cliffs' rocks were originally formed 12 to 13 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch due to various volcanic activities, and were created by magma mixing with sedimentary rock to form columnar joints of pyroxene andesite containing Plagioclase crystals, Augite and Enstatite crystals in pentagonal or hexagonal shapes, which has been eroded by the sea.

Some decades later, an itinerant priest took pity on Tōjinbō and held a memorial service for him.

According to statistics, as many as 25 people commit suicide[3] by jumping off the 70-foot (21 m) high cliffs annually, a number which has risen and fallen with Japan's national economic hardships and unemployment rates.

In the 2000s, Yukio Shige, a retired police officer, frustrated at having had to fish so many bodies out of the sea and the inaction of local authorities, began patrolling the cliffs for potential jumpers.

Yukio Shige says it is partly because many people come there to catch rare creatures in the mobile phone game Pokémon Go.