Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergia Parl.) is widely planted as a major component of coastal forests, but poor growing conditions and lack of management affect growth of naturally regenerated and planted of Japanese black pine. This study was conducted to clarify the growth of planted and naturally regenerated Japanese black pine and the distribution of coastal plants by focusing on the stand environment in the gaps of a Japanese black pine forest and to obtain information about the maintenance of a coastal black pine forest where coastal plants are distributed. The study site was Keino-Matsubara (Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture), designated as a National Site of Scenic Beauty. The survey method was to identify the gaps with GPS and create polygons in ArcMap to measure the area of the gaps and its distance from the coastline. It was found that the gaps with coastal plants were distributed near the coastline, and gaps with naturally regenerated trees were distributed inland. The height growth of planted black pine was much higher than that of naturally regenerated black pine. Accumulated illumination was higher at the center of the gap and the forest edge located north of the gap.

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