Maimaizu Well, Shikine Island, Niijima Village
Article

13363 / にいじまむら

Tokyo

Niijima Village

A village grew around a snail-named well.

Maimaizu Well, Shikine Island

Photo by っ (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 / Niijima Odori

Everyone who enters the dance groundwears an inro.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that the Niijima Odori is a song dance handed down in Honson and Wakago, danced at Obon in the grounds of Choeiji Temple and Myorenji Temple respectively. Dancers wear an inro at the waist, which serves as the token for entering the dance ground.

  • Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (designated 2005)
  • The inro is the token to enter the dance ground
  • Wakago was opened in 1711 by settlers from Honson

02 / Koga Stone Houses and Moyai Statues

Niijima's specialty koga stone becomesstone-roofed houses and Moyai statues.

In Honson stand houses built of koga stone with stone roofs; the Umeda house stone storehouse and outdoor toilet are among those registered as national Registered Tangible Cultural Properties. The village writes that Moyai statues began when islander Daigo Tomoichi carved koga stone after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to revive the island.

  • Umeda house stone storehouse and outdoor toilet registered nationally in 2024
  • Koga stone is found only on Niijima and Lipari Island worldwide (village)
  • Carving began after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics

03 / Jinata Onsen, Shikine Island

Rock split as if by a hatchet is namedone of Shikine Island's finest sights.

Jinata Onsen, Shikine Island in Niijima Village
Photo by ブルーノ・プラス (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The village's tourism guide introduces Jinata Onsen as a scenic hot spring in terrain that looks split by a hatchet, representing Shikine Island. The tourism association calls it a very rare setting, a rock mountain split as if with a hatchet, and gives the source temperature as 80 degrees.

  • Terrain split as if by a hatchet
  • Representing Shikine Island (village guide)
  • Source temperature 80 degrees (tourism association)

Niijima Village from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot January 2013)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles(全国最新写真(シームレス)/国土画像情報(第一期:1974〜1978年撮影))

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

A two-island village reached by boat from Takeshiba, Tokyo.

  • about 2,000 people

Niijima Village consists of Niijima and Shikine Island, about 150 km south of Tokyo. The village gives 10 hours 35 minutes from Takeshiba Pier by Tokai Kisen's large ship, and the Nishiki connecting ferry links Niijima and Shikine Island in about 15 minutes. The gateway is the Port of Niijima.

People living here
2,441people
19952020

−11.2% since 2015

3,163 → 2,441

Area
27.54km²

8.96km² of it habitable

2024

Households
1,163households

2.1 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
—
Healthcare
0 hospitals / 3 clinics

12.3 per 10,000 people

2023

Area27.54km²Habitable land8.96km² / 33%
Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103
Children waiting for childcare
—2 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.

Niijima Village in Japan34.377°N 139.257°E
OsakaNiijima Village
Port of Niijima
新島港2004
  • to TokyoTokai Kisen635min

Travel times follow 東海汽船の時刻表(10/29〜2027/1/31・東京~大島・利島・新島・式根島・神津島航路)。大型客船3000便は東京22:00発・新島翌8:35着(635分)だが『大型客船運休日』が10/29・11/17・18・24・12/1・8・15〜17・1/5・19・26にあり、ジェット船1220便も運航日『B』の日だけ (checked 2026-10-23). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 0 municipalities.

Territory of Niijima Village
Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.

North to south

18.2km

Niijima Village isthis kind of town.

  1. 01According to Niijima Village's board of education, the Maimaizu Well on Shikine Island is named for a descending path shaped like a snail; at the center of a square pyramid-shaped hollow, 18 m on a side and about 7.6 m deep, is a dug well. Fewer than 20 people, with helpers from Niijima, finished it in three years, and the settlement is said to have spread around it
  2. 02The Shishi Kiyari and Kagura of Jusansha Shrine are designated Tokyo intangible folk cultural properties. The village writes that in the Shishi Kiyari, a male and a female lion dance to the lead of a kiyari chant, which it calls rare
  3. 03The Niijima Village Museum displays a Toyotomi Hideyoshi prohibition notice, writing that such notices are said to have existed on other islands but only Niijima's is thought to survive. It also shows Niijima koga stone beside pumice from Lipari Island in Italy

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

From this town's themes