is part of Okayama Prefecture, Japan. It is a small, uninhabited island located in the Inland Sea of Japan, hidden from the land by the much larger Kakuijima, and approximately 6 km off the border of Hyōgo and Okayama prefectures. During the early

Meiji Period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

the island was used as a penal colony for

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'' (Χρ ...

. The name means literally " Crane (bird) Island".

Geography

The island is under 400m across. It is roughly triangular with a craggy southeastern side and narrow sandy beaches divided by rocky outcrops on its southwestern and northern shores. A concrete jetty on the northern side and another shorter jetty overlooked by a disused one-room reception building on the southwestern side, are the only signs of previous habitation visible from the sea. Inland there are a few abandoned buildings, all built in the last 50 years or so, which are now falling into ruin. In the northwestern corner of the island there is a well that dates back to the time of the penal colony (in working order at time of writing). The highest point on the island is 49m above sea level. It has an area of 0.1 km² and 2.1 km of coastline.

History

During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

the island was privately owned and uninhabited. In August 1870 (the 3rd year of Meiji), as part of the

Urakami Yoban Kuzure was the last and biggest of four crackdowns on Christians in Urakami Village, Nagasaki, Japan in the 19th century. Christianity was prohibited in Japan for 259 years, from 1614 after the Catholic Church was seen as a threat, when Nagasaki had gr ...

, 117 Christians from Nagasaki were exiled to the island and it became a penal colony. On Tsuru Shima during three years of forced labour and forced conversions 18 of the internees perished, 17 of them as martyrs, before religious freedom was granted in 1873 and the prohibition on

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

was finally lifted. The unhewn headstones marking the graves of those who died can still be found on the hillside above the cliff at the southern tip of the island, along with a stone memorial and cross that have been erected by the local

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

church. The remains of the small

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine that was used for the conversions are also still there. Around the time of Japan’s entry into the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the island was returned to private ownership and planted with

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

s, however the plantation later failed when the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

trees that acted as a windbreak were destroyed by a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

infestation. The owners then operated a guesthouse on the island until 1990 when it was again left uninhabited. The former penal colony is now one of Bizen City's designated cultural heritage sites and a pilgrimage is held annually following part of the internees' route, or "the Journey", to the island.''Catholic Weekly'', "Pilgrims Visit Site of Nagasaki Christian's Exile", October 26, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-16. http://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/eng/jcn/nov2008.htm#4

References

{{coord, 34.6931, N, 134.324, E, source:kolossus-jawiki, display=title Islands of Okayama Prefecture Uninhabited islands of Japan

Geography

History

See also

References