, which means "Heaven's Grass," is a series of

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s off the west coast of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan.

Geography

The largest island of the Amakusa group is Shimoshima, which is 26.5 miles long and 13.5 miles at its widest (). It is situated at 32°20'N, 130°E, separated from the rest of

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

by the

Yatsushiro Sea The , which is also called the , is a shallow semi-enclosed inland sea separating the island of Kyūshū from the Amakusa Islands. It lies mostly within Kumamoto Prefecture and at the southern end of the sea it also borders Kagoshima Prefecture ...

. While lacking high mountains with only four peaks surpassing , the island terrain is ruggedly hilly. To cope with the lack of flat arable land, farming is carried out on a

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

system of cultivation.

History

Amakusa, along with the neighboring

Shimabara Peninsula is a peninsula located in Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. The peninsula incorporates the cities of Shimabara, Minamishimabara, Unzen. It was also the site of the Shimabara Rebellion, a 1637-1638 peasant and rōnin revolt, led ...

, became the site of the

Shimabara rebellion The , also known as the or , was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638. Matsukura Katsuie, the ''daimyō'' of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular polic ...

in the 17th century, led by

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. Following the rebellion,

Kakure Kirishitan ''Kakure kirishitan'' () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan that went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate. History Origin ...

, the Christians who had survived, continued to practice their faith in secret, despite severe persecution.

Economy

Amakusa produces a little

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

and pottery stone, both being used by the

potters A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Jer ...

of Hirado ware and

Satsuma ware is a type of Japanese pottery originally from Satsuma Province, southern Kyūshū. Today, it can be divided into two distinct categories: the original plain dark clay made in Satsuma from around 1600, and the elaborately decorated ivory-bodied ...

. Many kilns remain on the islands today, and pottery and pottery stone are still exported.

Amakusa pottery is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally from the Amakusa islands, in Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geogra ...

has been recognised by the government. The retail company

Muji (), or is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Muji's design philosophy is minimalist, and it places an emphasis on recycling, reducing production and packaging waste, and a no-logo or "no-bran ...

brought out its own line of ''

Hakuji is a form of Japanese pottery and porcelain, normally white porcelain, which originated as an imitation of Chinese Dehua porcelain. Today the term is used in Japan to refer to plain white porcelain. It's always plain white without colored pat ...

'' home ware, which is produced out of ground translucent Amakusa stones kneaded into clay, using traditional techniques.

People

Hidenoshin Koyama, who built

Thomas Blake Glover Thomas Blake Glover (6 June 1838 – 16 December 1911) was a Scottish merchant in the Bakumatsu and Meiji period in Japan. Early life (1838–1858) Thomas Blake Glover was born at 15 Commerce Street, Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire (council area), ...

's House in

Glover Garden Glover House known as ''Ipponmatsu'' (Single Pine Tree) from a drawing of 1863. The tree was chopped down in the early 20th century. is a park in Nagasaki, Japan, built for Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed to the mod ...

, came from this island. Kenta and Ko-shin, two of the three members of Wanima come from the island of Amakusa.

Government

At present, the islands are organized as

Amakusa District is a district located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Following the March 27, 2006 Amakusa merger the district consists of the single town of Reihoku. After the merger, the district has an estimated population of 9,105 and a density of 135.77 p ...

, Amakusa City, and Kami-amakusa City, all of which are under the administration of

Transport

The islands are served by

Amakusa Airfield is an airport located northwest of Amakusa, Kumamoto, Japan, on the Amakusa, Amakusa Islands . Locals often refer to the airfield as Amakusa Airport. It is located on the northern side of the Amakusa Islands, north west of Amakusa city. Only one ...

, located on the north end of Shimoshima. The islands are connected to the mainland by the

Five Bridges of Amakusa 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awar ...

and by ferry from

Hondo Hondo may refer to: Places * Rio Hondo (disambiguation), the name of several locations, derived from the Spanish word for "deep" Canada * Hondo, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States * Hondo, New Mexico, an unincorporated com ...

and

Matsushima is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (''shima'') covered in pines (''matsu'') – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan. Nearby cultural properties ...

. There are also

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

between the islands and the neighboring prefectures of

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

and

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

. The ferry from Oniike on the north Shimoshima to Kuchinotsu, at the southern tip of the

, is run by the

Shimabara Railway ( for short) is a third-sector railway company in Nagasaki, Japan. Shimabara Railway also operates buses, taxis and passenger ferries; as well as other non-transport ventures. Nagasaki Prefecture and Cities in Shimabara area came to hold stocks ...

and operates hourly each day. The ferry boat from Tomioka Port in Reihoku, sailing north to Mogi in Nagasaki Prefecture, is operated by Yasuda Sangyo Kisen Co. Ltd. Ferry boat schedule, web:
Yasuda-kisen
. Two ferries from Shinwa and Ushibuka, in the south of Shimoshima, connect Amakusa to

Nagashima was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surrender ...

in Kagoshima Prefecture.

References

Sources

* {{Authority control Islands of Kumamoto Prefecture Islands of the East China Sea