Kujūku Islands

Kujū-ku Islands (九十九島, Kujū-ku-shima) is a group of islands ranging in the west coast of Kitamatsuura Peninsula, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.

The Islands belong to the city of Sasebo, and the city of Hirado. The two biggest islands, Kuroshima and Taklashima, are easily accessible by ferry from the harbour of Ainoura in the north of Sasebo three times a day.

The total number of the islands is now formally considered to be 208. The whole area is designated part of Saikai National Park.

Kuroshima

Kuroshima ("Black Island"), the biggest island covering 5.3 km²^[1], has about 650 inhabitants who are mostly the descendants of Catholics who hid here to escape persecution after the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637. The island church, Kuroshima Tenshudo, was built in 1902. It is one of the rare brick churches in Japan. It was declared an "Important National Heritage" in 1998^[2]. There are some well-preserved old houses on the island showing the traditional architecture.

Most of the island is covered by dense forest. There are a few paddy fields on Kuroshima as well, some of them are terraces which are very rare in Japan. In the middle of the island, there is a school, an administration building and a shop. The small harbour of Kuroshima is in the north of the island.