Shiwaku Islands

The name derives from shioyaku (塩焼く) or shiowaku (潮湧く) both meaning boiling seawater to get salt.

However, the name may also refer to rough water created by the confluence of tides that mix around the islands.

In Meiji 30 (1897), the National Mercantile Marine School was established here and subsequently many talented men were sent into the shipping industry.

The China Sea Directory from 1873[4] contains a description of the island and recommends Enoura Bay (referred to as Ino Ura) as an anchorage: ‘The outline of Hiroshima is very irregular, and its sharp rocky ridges are very conspicuous.

The summit of the island, which presents southward the appearance of an almost perpendicular cliff, is 990 feet above the sea.

Ino Ura is a convenient anchorage for vessels passing through the Seto Inland Sea, and is generally chosen as a night anchorage, especially when bound from Hiogo to the westward, it being within convenient distance, and can be arrived at before nightfall.

Care must be taken not to approach the shore too closely, as the head of the bay shoals very suddenly but good holding ground will be found here out of the strength of the tides.’ On the island is the grave of Frank Toovey Lake, a Victorian sailor who died here in 1868 while part of Richard Henry Brunton's survey party.

櫃石島, The island takes its name from a megalith in the shape of a chest (jap: 櫃) at its southern part.

The principal industry on the island is collection of shellfish by diving and trawl fishing.

In mid January the yearly peach festival is held on the compounds of the Ōji-Shrine (王子神社, Ōji-jinja) 本島, part of Marugame, situated in the center of the Shiwaku Island group.

Kasajima (笠島) - designated as Preservation District of Groups of Traditional Buildings (重要伝統的建造物群保存地区) of Japan 岩黒島, part of Sakaide, Kagawa, populated.

The Iwakurojima Interchange on the down-line (away from Tokyo) of the Seto-Chuo Expressway can be used exclusively by islanders by means of a card to unlock the gate.

Tourists and other people can use an elevator from the bus stop on top of the bridge to access the island.

Popular place for catching Japanese amberjack or Sand lance (Ammodytes personatus).area: 0.6 km², circumference: 3.8 km.

At Nakanda beach (ナカンダ浜, Nakanda-hama) earthenware and other finds from that time have been excavated.

At Yoshima-kō there is a Fisherman's Wharf with restaurants and places selling seafood and souvenirs.

It is also possible to go with the Japanese warship Kanrin Maru on a sightseeing pleasure cruise of the Great Seto Bridge.