---
title: Shishijima
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/shishijima/
lang: en
journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/setouchi-1/
---

# Shishijima

A little of each town’s story　/　Mitoyo, Kagawa

A small island in the Shiwaku group, part of Mitoyo (formerly Takuma town), about 0.74 square kilometers. More than a thousand people lived here in the Meiji and Taisho eras; today there are around twenty, and no cars. It appeared as "Kotojima" in the 1993 film Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Torajiro no Endan (the 46th in the Tora-san series) and was also a location for Kikansha Sensei (2004). The island keeps the old custom of separate burial and visiting graves, with brightly colored grave shelters near the port.

## This moment in the journey: Shishijima, a small island of the Shiwaku group

I arrived at Shishijima, a small island in the Shiwaku Islands. At the port stood a board reading "Welcome to Shishijima" and a buoy painted with a cat's face. Around twenty people live here, and there are no cars.

I walked past a cycad tree into the village. The eaves of a shop with an old tobacco sign, and narrow lanes between stone walls, carry the memory of an island where more than a thousand people once lived.

![The "Welcome to Shishijima" board and a buoy painted like a cat](https://karigurashijourney.com/img/setouchi-1/s48-1200.jpg)
- Sources: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%97%E3%80%85%E5%B3%B6
- Sources: https://www.nippon.com/ja/views/b08404/

Read this scene in the full journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/setouchi-1/