Takashima (saga)

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Takashima
Takashima Island, Saga, Japan2.jpg
Waters Japanese sea
Geographical location 33 ° 28 '37 "  N , 129 ° 59' 24"  E Coordinates: 33 ° 28 '37 "  N , 129 ° 59' 24"  E
Takashima (Saga) (Saga Prefecture)
Takashima (saga)
length 1 km
width 900 m
surface 62 ha
Highest elevation 169.6  m
Residents 346 (April 1, 2010)
558 inhabitants / km²
main place Takashima
Hōtō shrine
Hōtō shrine

Takashima ( Japanese 高 島 , dt. "High island") is an inhabited island of the Japanese community Karatsu . It is known in Japan for the Hōtō shrine, which is said to bring luck when playing the lottery.

geography

Takashima is located in the Karatsu Bay of the Sea of Japan in front of the main Japanese island of Kyushu , a little more than 2 km north of the mouth of the Matsuura-gawa in the bay and 1.3 km east of the Ōshima peninsula. Takashima is, including the port facilities, about 1 km long and 900 m long with an area of ​​0.62 km².

The island rises steeply to 169.9 m with the summit being flattened and a 250 m wide coastal plain at the south foot. The vegetation is characterized by the evergreen beech family Lithocarpus edulis .

Population and infrastructure

As of April 1, 2010, 346 people lived on the island, 35% of whom were 65 years of age or older, in 130 households. Most of the residents have the family name Nozaki going back to the samurai Nozaki Tsunayoshi. The settlement is concentrated on the southern coastal area. This is therefore secured against storm surges by an extensive port facility with breakwaters.

The port serves as the starting point for the fishing boats as well as the start and destination of the New Takashima ferry ( ニ ュ ー た か し ま ), which is the only connection to the mainland. This runs six times a day and takes 10 minutes. Every year it brings 200,000 people to the island, mainly tourists to the Hōtō Shrine.

As an educational institution, the island has a primary school with 5 students (as of 2016). The middle school closed in 2004.

Shioya and Hōtō shrines

In 1574 the samurai Nozaki Tsunayoshi ( 野 崎 綱 吉 ; 1554–1586) arrived with a small group of followers on Takashima, which at that time was haunted by pirates and whose danger he averted. In 1581 he founded the Shioya shrine ( 塩 屋 神社 , -jinja , literally: "Salt House Shrine"; 33 ° 28 ′ 33.3 ″  N , 129 ° 59 ′ 16.4 ″  E ) in which his ancestors Fujiwara no Kamatari , Fujiwara no Fuhito and Fujiwara no Uona are venerated as protective ancestral gods ( ujigami ), and the mountain god Ōyamatsumi as the local patron god ( ubusunagami ). Later the god of the wind and sea Susanoo was added, as well as Sugawara no Michizane as god Tenjin around 1910 .

After Nozaki Tsunayoshi died in 1586, the inhabitants built a small shrine ( hokora ) in his honor and to keep his remains . In 1786, the Tsunayoshi Shrine ( 綱 吉 神社 ) emerged as a branch of the Shioya Shrine. In 1901 he received a stone torii with the inscription hōtō jinja ( 寶 當 神社 ) with the profits from the salt production , where hōtō means "this place [is our] treasure" or "treasure of this island". The shrine was then named Hōtō-Shrine ( 宝 当 神社 , -jinja ; 33 ° 28 ′ 26 ″  N , 129 ° 59 ′ 17.1 ″  E ) with a simplified variant ( Shinjitai ) of the characters.

In 1990 a newspaper report appeared about the Hōtō shrine because of its auspicious name, since hōtō can be understood as "winning a treasure". The shrine then introduced the "treasure bag " ( 宝 当 袋 , hōtōbukuro ) in 1992 , in which you keep your lottery tickets to increase your luck. The shrine gained national notoriety in 2002 after reports of multiple cases of large lottery wins since 1993. As a result, the number of tourists rose from 160,000 in the previous year to 270,000 in the same year. Although this declined in the following years, the island is still visited by around 200,000 people, mainly because of the “treasure bag” of the Hōtō shrine to increase the lottery luck.

The Shioya shrine also includes a small shrine dedicated to Inari with the characteristic red torii.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 唐 津市 地域 公共 交通 総 合 連 携 計画 . Karatsu, p. 16 , accessed August 3, 2016 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ a b c d 唐 津市 に お け る 島 づ く り 事業 と 離島 航路 活性 化 の 取 組 み . Karatsu, pp. 3-16 , archived from the original on Aug. 10, 2014 ; Retrieved August 3, 2016 (Japanese).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f 唐 津 ん も ん だ よ り 第 43 号 . か ら つ ７ 島 め ぐ り 第 4 回 ～ 高 島 ～ . Karatsu Tourism Association, May 6, 2010, archived from the original on August 9, 2014 ; Retrieved August 3, 2016 (Japanese). Karatsunmon Dayori # 43. Make the rounds of seven islands of Karatsu No.3: The 4th ～ Taka Island ～. Karatsu Tourism Association, May 6, 2010, archived from the original on August 10, 2014 ; accessed on August 3, 2016 .
  4. ↑ 学校 長 あ い さ つ . Takashima Elementary School, accessed August 3, 2016 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ 学校 沿革 . Takashima Elementary School, accessed August 3, 2016 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ a b c ご 由 緒 . Hōtō Shrine, accessed August 7, 2014 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ 塩 屋 神社 ご 由 緒 . Hōtō Shrine, accessed August 7, 2014 (Japanese).
  8. ↑ a b 唐 津 ん も ん だ よ り 第 74 号 . 宝 く じ フ ァ ン に 大人 気 ～ 宝 当 神社 ～ . Karatsu Tourism Association, December 4, 2012, archived from the original on July 6, 2014 ; Retrieved August 3, 2016 (Japanese). Karatsunmon Dayori # 74. A very popular shrine to win the lottery ~ Houtou Shrine ~. Karatsu Tourism Association, December 4, 2012, archived from the original on August 9, 2014 ; accessed on August 3, 2016 .