Mishima Village

Seafloor hot springs stain the bay red.

Red sea of Nagahama Bay

Photo by LT sfm (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Masked gods of Mishima

Iojima has Mendon, Takeshima has Takamen,Kuroshima has Onimen: masked gods.

On Iojima, on the 1st and 2nd of the eighth lunar month, the masked god Mendon appears after the Hassaku taiko dance and rampages with a sacred branch, driving off evil spirits. On Takeshima, Takamen, over 1 m tall, appears on August 31; on Kuroshima, Onimen appears on September 1. Mendon was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2017. The photo shows a mask on display at the National Museum of Ethnology.

Mendon: national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 2017
Takamen stands over 1 m tall
A Hassaku dance on each of the 3 islands

02 ／ Ikawa of Takeshima

From the first stream to the fourth,strict rules fixed each use.

Ikawa on Takeshima is a spring where groundwater that gathered over welded tuff wells up. The innermost spot, where the water rises, is the first stream; drinking water was drawn at the second, vegetables and dishes were washed at the third, and laundry was done at the fourth. Cut stones and cobbles marked the boundaries. The stone steps are said to have been made in 1716.

First to fourth streams
Stone steps said to date from 1716
A water god at the back, a Jizo below the steps

03 ／ Forest plant community of Satsuma-Kuroshima

Akagashi oak woods stand on a small island,which is very rare in Japan.

Kuroshima is an old volcanic island of andesite. Evergreen broadleaf forest has formed there: Maruba-nikkei on the coastal cliffs, sudajii on the gentle slopes, and akagashi in the mountains. Akagashi has its southern limit at Yakushima, and the Kagoshima Prefecture Board of Education writes that its presence on so small an island is very rare nationwide. It was designated a national Natural Monument on September 21, 2011.

Designated a national Natural Monument on Sept. 21, 2011
Continuous from the coast to the summit
Akagashi has its southern limit at Yakushima

Living here

180 minutes from Kagoshima by ferry.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

Mishima Village has no railway station, and its office is in Kagoshima City. The gateway is Takeshima Port, and the village-run Ferry Mishima takes about 3 hours from Kagoshima, with sailing days that change every month. The population is 325 (village figure, October 1, 2026), living in four districts: Takeshima, Iojima, and Osato and Katadomari on Kuroshima.

People living here: 405people
Area: 31.39km²
Households: 218households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 4 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —0 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Mishima Village in Japan31.595°N 130.561°E

to KagoshimaFerry Mishima180min

Travel times follow 三島村営船フェリーみしま（村公式 https://mishimamura.com/ferry/ の『通常1泊2日運航ダイヤ』『通常日帰り片道運航ダイヤ』と、同じページの『鹿児島本港からの時間の目安』）。鹿児島発 9:30 → 竹島港入港 12:30（180分）。村公式の月別運航予定表PDF（令和8年10月分 https://mishimamura.com/system/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/202610ferry.pdf）の航程図にも『鹿児島 9:30 ─ 180分 ─ 竹島 12:30』とある。 (checked 2026-10-07). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 0 municipalities.

Territory of Mishima Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

14.2km

Mishima Village isthis kind of town.

01On Iojima, iron in hot spring water welling up from the seafloor of Nagahama Bay turns the sea red, and the geopark writes that the pattern keeps changing with the tide and wind
02Ikawa on Takeshima is a spring with stone steps said to have been made by a stonemason in 1716, where the use of its water was set by four streams
03Takeshima and Iojima lie on the northern rim of the Kikai Caldera, and the whole village forms the Mishima Village Kikai Caldera Geopark

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Mishima Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗