Hashira Island

Overview

Hashira Island (Hashira-jima) is the main island of the Hashirajima group in the western Seto Inland Sea, administratively part of Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Covering about 3.12 square kilometers, it sits at the center of a ring of islands including Kurahashi, Etajima, Yashiro and the Kutsuna Islands. Fishing and the cultivation of citrus and vegetables sustain the small community, and a quiet island rhythm blends here with a surprisingly rich wartime history.

Highlights

• ●Kamo Shrine with its thirteen auxiliary shrines and the legend behind the island's name
• ●A memorial to those lost in the sinking of the battleship Mutsu
• ●Panoramic island scenery framed by Kurahashi, Etajima and the Kutsuna Islands
• ●A quiet community living by fishing and citrus and vegetable farming

History

The island's name is said to come from the idea that it was home to many deities, which in Japanese are counted with the word hashira (pillar). The Kamo Shrine on the island still enshrines thirteen auxiliary shrines within its grounds, and even more gods are thought to have been worshiped here in the past. In the modern era the waters around the island became the Hashirajima Anchoring Area of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, where battleships such as Mutsu, Nagato, Fusō, Yamashiro, Hyūga and Ise once lay at anchor. In 1943 the battleship Mutsu sank after an internal explosion in nearby waters, and a memorial to the victims stands on the island.

Map

34.0200, 132.4119 · Wikidata

Suggested itinerary

1. 1Take the high-speed ferry from Iwakuni, watching the archipelago drift by
2. 2Visit Kamo Shrine and take in its cluster of small shrines and the island's naming legend
3. 3Walk the seaside hamlet and pause at the Mutsu memorial to reflect on the past
4. 4Linger by the harbor with a view over the Inland Sea until the return sailing

Did you know?

💡 Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, is said to have come ashore at Hashirajima, and there was apparently friendly exchange between the navy and the islanders. The Hashirajima Channel between the island and its neighbors is dotted with submerged rocks and long known as a hazardous stretch for shipping, a reminder of the island's strategic place on inland sea routes.

Nearby spots