Shōdoshima or is an island located in the

Inland Sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large and is either completely surrounded by dry land or connected to an ocean by a river, strait, or "arm of the sea". An inland se ...

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 ...

. The name means "Island of Small Beans". There are two towns on the island: Tonoshō and Shōdoshima, composing the district of Shōzu. The island is famous as the setting for the novel '' Twenty-Four Eyes'' and its subsequent film adaptations. The island was the first area of Japan to successfully grow

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

s, and it is sometimes known as "Olive Island".

Geography

Shōdoshima is part of

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

and is located north of the prefectural capital Takamatsu. It has an area of and a coastline of . It is the 23rd largest island in Japan, and the second largest in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

. Shōdoshima is home to Dofuchi Strait, the world's narrowest strait, meters at its narrowest. Frequent ferries run to the island from Takamatsu, Himeji,

Teshima is an island located in the inland sea of Japan, between Naoshima and Shōdoshima islands, and is part of Kagawa Prefecture. It has an area of and a population of about 1,000 people. Teshima is one of the locations of the Setouchi Triennale, ...

and

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

. Ferries run infrequently to Osaka and Kōbe as well.

History

Shodoshima Olive Park Shodo Island Japan21bs3

201211Kankakei Shodoshima Kagawa pref Japan10s4

Shōdoshima was once known as Azuki-shima and was part of

Kibi Kibi may refer to: * kibi (binary prefix), an ISO/IEC standard binary prefix for units of digital information * Kibi District, Okayama (吉備郡; -gun), a district in Okayama Prefecture, Japan * Kibi, Wakayama (吉備町), a town in District, Wak ...

(later Bizen) Province, given to Sanuki Province, and finally made part of Kagawa prefecture.

Tourism and culture

Shōdoshima is a popular destination for domestic tourism in Japan. In addition to natural features such as the Dobuchi Strait, the Angel Road, Shōdoshima Olive Park and the , Shōdoshima is famous as the setting for the antiwar novel , written by the native author Sakae Tsuboi and later turned twice into a film (1954 and 1987), as well as a television special. The island is the birthplace of two other distinguished writers: Sakae's husband the poet

Shigeji Tsuboi was an influential Japanese poet of the modern era of Japanese literature. He was cofounder (with Hagiwara Kyojiro) of the Dadaist-Anarchist poetry journal ''Aka tokuro'' (Red and Black, 1923–24) and ''Bungei Kaiho'' (Literary liberation, 1927) ...

and the novelist and short-story writer Denji Kuroshima. All three were prominent participants in the proletarian literary movement, an important and politically radical current within modern Japanese literature. Shōdoshima is also known for its olives, soy sauce, wild monkeys, and beaches. In addition, tourists are attracted to a miniature version of the 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. The island is also famous for being the first in Japan to successfully cultivate olives. Olive trees proliferate on the island and olive-related merchandise is quite popular with tourists. Milos, Greece, is Shōdoshima's sister island. The island is the setting for the manga and anime series '' Teasing Master Takagi-san''. Native creator Sōichirō Yamamoto was raised in Tonoshō Town. The island's mascot is Olive Shima-chan ( ja, オリーブしまちゃん), who is an olive-shaped prince those task is to find secret spots of the island and to test taste olive oil for quality. He likes white rice. His birthday is on August 15. He is assisted by Mimozanoriku-chan and Rukkarukka. *Olive King ( ja, オリーブキング, Orībukingu) has protected the island for 100 years, he is Olive Shima-chan's master. 15 March is his birthday. *Mimozanoriku-chan ( ja, ミモザのりくちゃん, Mimoza no riku-chan) is a mimosa. She is the girlfriend of Olive Shima-chan and is responsible to signalling the island's residents about the arrival of spring. Her birthday is March 8. *Rukkarukka ( ja, ルッカルッカ), on the hand, an olive who is a crybaby. His birthday is November 16.

Sister island

* Milos, Greece (1989)

Notes

External links