is an uninhabited island in Suzu, Ishikawa,

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 ...

. Because of its shape, it is also known as , which is also the common name given to

Hashima Island , commonly called , is a tiny abandoned island off Nagasaki, lying about from the centre of the city. It is one of 505 uninhabited islands in Nagasaki Prefecture. The island's most notable features are its abandoned concrete buildings, undistu ...

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 ...

. According to

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, the island was given the name "Mitsukejima" by the Buddhist monk, scholar, and artist,

Kūkai Kūkai (; 27 July 774 – 22 April 835Kūkai was born in 774, the 5th year of the Hōki era; his exact date of birth was designated as the fifteenth day of the sixth month of the Japanese lunar calendar, some 400 years later, by the Shingon sec ...

, who was the first to discover the island while travelling from

Sado Island is a city located on in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Since 2004, the city has comprised the entire island, although not all of its total area is urbanized. Sado is the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Ok ...

. Mitsukejima is approximately 150 metres long, 50 metres wide, and 30 metres above sea level. It is composed of

Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

period

diatomaceous earth Diatomaceous earth (), diatomite (), or kieselgur/kieselguhr is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from more than 3 μm to le ...

, the raw materials commonly used for ''

shichirin ] The ''shichirin'' (; , literally "seven wheels") is a small charcoal grill. Etymology ''Shichirin'' being a compound word made up of the characters 七 (''shichi'' or ''nana'', "seven") and 輪 (''rin'' or ''wa'', "wheel," "loop," or "rin ...

'', a portable clay cooking stove which is a specialty product of Suzu. The top of the island is covered with

Japanese black pine ''Pinus thunbergii'' (syn: ''Pinus thunbergiana''), also called black pine, Japanese black pine, and Japanese pine, is a pine tree native to coastal areas of Japan (Kyūshū, Shikoku and Honshū) and South Korea. It is called () in Korean, () ...

and

Japanese knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

. Mitsukejima is known as a scenic spot of the

Noto Hantō Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park covering a portion of Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. in the northern half of Ishikawa Prefecture, extends ab ...

, and attracts many tourists.

External links

Tourism ISHIKAWA (Official Ishikawa Travel Guide) - Mitsukejima Island
{{Coord, 37, 23, 35, N, 137, 15, 00, E, region:JP-17_type:isle, display=title Islands of the Sea of Japan Tourist attractions in Ishikawa Prefecture Islands of Ishikawa Prefecture Uninhabited islands of Japan Suzu, Ishikawa

See also

External links