is an uninhabited island in
Suzu,
Ishikawa,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Because of its shape, it is also known as , which is also the common name given to
Hashima Island in
Nagasaki Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...
.
According to
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
, the island was given the name "Mitsukejima" by the Buddhist monk, scholar and artist
Kūkai, who was the first to discover the island while travelling from
Sado Island.
Mitsukejima is approximately 150 metres long, 50 metres wide, and 30 metres above sea level. It is composed of
Neogene
The Neogene ( ,) 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 million years ago. It is the second period of th ...
-period
diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth ( ), also known as diatomite ( ), celite, or kieselguhr, is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous rock, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging fr ...
, the raw materials commonly used for ''
shichirin'', a portable clay cooking stove which is a specialty product of Suzu. The top of the island is covered with
Japanese black pine and
Japanese knotweed. Mitsukejima is known as a scenic spot of the
Noto Hantō Quasi-National Park, and attracts many tourists.
Earthquake
*During the
2023 Noto earthquake, local observers reported landslides on the island, with
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
users posting videos of the event.
*During the
2024 Noto earthquake, the island suffered from a major landslide.
In popular culture
The island was featured in the
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
''
Insomniacs After School'' by
Makoto Ojiro and its adaptations.
See also
*
Noto Hantō Quasi-National Park
*
Desert island
An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
References
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