Product Code Database
Chikubushima is a small island in the northern part of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan. It has been known since ancient times for the beauty of its scenery and for its small Shinto shrine and Buddhist temples. Administratively, the island is part of the city of Nagahama, Shiga. The island is both a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site.
The entire island was covered with evergreens until fairly recently. According to the vegetation survey data in Shiga Prefecture from 1972 to 1973, the island had dense groves of Castanopsis, Castanopsis cuspidata, Cinnamomum pedunculatum, Ilex integra, as well as Neolitsea sericea, and Camellia japonica, and Aralia elata among other species. However, from 1977 onward, a population of great cormorants began to colonise the area, displacing the previous existing heron population of the northern portion of the island and increased rapidly in numbers. By 2007 more than 40,000 birds were nesting on the island, creating tremendous environmental damage. Despite efforts to control the population by both non-lethal and lethal means, the population continued to increase to over 60,000 by 2008.
During the Sengoku period, retainers of Azai Nagamasa confined his father Azai Hisamasa to Chikubushima, forcing him into retirement and establishing Nagamasa as his successor.
Many structures were brought to the island by Toyotomi Hideyori, son of general Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The temple's Kannon-dõ and the Karamon-style gate were brought here from the gravesite (Toyokuni-byo; now Toyokuni Shrine) of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. They originally stood in the Higashiyama ward of Kyoto, and are regarded as fine examples of architecture from the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Moreover, the Karamon gate of the temple and the honden of the shrine are both National Treasures of Japan.
During the Edo Period, the island designated as one of the Eight Views of Lake Biwa.
The shrine and the temple were formally separated by the decrees Shinbutsu bunri issued by the Meiji government, but the distinction still remains blurred at Chikubushima.
Several works of the Japanese performing arts relate to Chikubu. They include the Noh play Chikubushima and the Heike Biwa work Chikubushima Mōde, two koto melodies named Chikubushima, a jōruri ( itchūbushi), a nagauta, and a tokiwazu-bushi of the same name.
|
|
