is a volcanic island in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

, 2.5 km from the coast of the Kyoto Prefecture in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Kutsujima Island is administered as part of

Maizuru is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,644 in 34817 households and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Maizuru is located in northern Kyoto Pref ...

city. The island consist of two islets - the smaller northern (where highest elevation rocks are located) is or and larger southern is or Kutsujima has been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports populations of black-tailed gulls,

Japanese murrelet The Japanese murrelet or crested murrelet (''Synthliboramphus wumizusume'') is a small seabird in the auk family that occurs along the remote rocky coasts and in the offshore waters of Japan, and may also be found after the breeding season as far ...

s and Swinhoe's storm petrels. Currently, the islets are designated as the Kanmurijima-Kutsujima Wildlife Protection Area, and any landing is prohibited. Sesshu - View of Ama-no-Hashidate

History

According to inscriptions on Tango no kuni fudoki, the

Kanmurijima is an island in the Sea of Japan administered under Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture. It is about 2 km from Kutsujima, a similar smaller island. is located just midway between islands. A breeding ground for streaked shearwaters, the island ...

and Kutsujima are the remains of the much larger island which submerged following an earthquake in 701 A.D. The

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of seafloor seems to support the claim, as the steep 60-meters cliff is located underwater off eastern coast of

and Kutsujuma, indicating a recent crustal fault. The northern islet is inaccessible without rock-climbing equipment,冠島・沓島（かんむりじま・くつじま）京都府舞鶴市
/ref> and was the famous hermits prayer location during the late 19th century.

References

{{Kyoto-geo-stub Islands of Kyoto Prefecture Islands of the Sea of Japan Uninhabited islands of Japan Important Bird Areas of Japan Seabird colonies

History

See also

References