The Dream of Takegashima - Passion for the Island Nurtured by Three Miracles

Twelve years have passed since I acquired Takegashima by a mysterious fate. I went out to Takegashima yesterday and spent a whole day maintaining the island. This time, two staff members from my company came to help me. Takegashima is huge! It stretches about 1 km from north to south. In addition to the Shikoku no Michi, there are mountain paths that people can walk on throughout the island, including the mountain path to the lighthouse. Therefore, there is no end to the number of paths that can be cleaned up and when I find time, I go out to Takegashima, do my best to push myself to the limit, and maintain the island. As the island is in a national park, it is my duty as the owner to maintain the island. I want to keep it clean so that anyone who visits can safely walk the mountain paths and also enjoy the wonderful scenery. I have also some videos of the island completed and plan to release them soon to show as many people as possible the wonders of Takegashima.

Many people have helped with the maintenance of the island so far. Not only the staff members of my company, but also the local people have helped me in the maintenance of the island. The people who have helped me with the island know best how hard it has been. When I acquired Takegashima, the island was a veritable jungle. There is the Shikoku no Michi on the island that pilgrims walk on, and from the top of the island is supposed to have a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean. However, the reality was far from it. Not only were the trees so overgrown that the ocean could not be seen from the top of the island, but even the Shikoku no Michi was blocked by weeds. In addition, the center of the island, which should have been a beautiful bamboo forest, had been forcibly planted with cedar trees in the early Showa period (1926-1989), resulting in a messy mixture of bamboo and cedar trees and overgrown thickets, turning it into a veritable jungle. In order to get rid of this miserable situation, I started to go to the island two to three times a month after acquiring the island to work on the cleanup. Finally, the island is becoming almost clean.

The reason why I’m so into Takegashima is because through three miracles, I have come to believe that this island is an important place. The first miracle was not only that on the map, I discovered a number of sacred places that contained the thoughts of Kukai through my study of the ley lines that intertwine with Tsurugisan and Ise Jingu, but as a result I also found Takegashima, a place associated with Kukai. I spent more than a year traveling back and forth between Tokyo and Tokushima, staring at maps, and even bought a small house on the island at the tip of Anan, Tokushima Prefecture, to continue my research. Miraculously, I found Takegashima, as a result of an inspiration that led to the existence of Kukai, who had emerged from my study of ley lines. Thus, I became convinced that Takegashima was unmistakably a place associated with Kukai.

The second miracle happened on the sea. One day, I really wanted to see Takegashima from the Pacific Ocean from the east, so I decided to rent a pleasure boat from Komatsushima and drive it to the island. Since I had already obtained a marine license, I had some confidence in my ability to operate the boat. However, I had heard that the waves on the Pacific side of Tokushima Prefecture become gradually rougher as they move southward along the Kii Channel, beyond Ishima, and past Cape Kamoda, so I needed to be careful. Therefore, although I was worried, I decided to go ahead with the plan, thinking that I could manage somehow. I later learned that a small 23-foot boat does not have enough fuel tanks to make the round trip from Komatsushima to Takegashima and back, and that the boat would run out of fuel halfway through the trip, resulting in an SOS case. So how was it possible for me to make the round trip miracle without incident? Early in the morning, I left the marina at Komatsushima and headed south, passing the west coast of Ishima and facing the Pacific Ocean, just as I was warning that the waves were going to be rough, something unusual suddenly happened. It was a sight unlike anything I had ever seen before. Suddenly, the sea became calm. A calm means that the wind does not blow at all, so there are no waves. The Pacific Ocean looked completely flat like an indoor swimming pool, and the sun was shining so brightly that it reflected off the ocean like a shiny mirror. Moreover, only to the south, where I was about to go, the color of the sea turned slightly whitish, as if salt was dancing on the sea, and it looked like a sea road. It was like a sign telling me to go to Takegashima. Since there were no waves at all, the resistance of the boat due to the waves was eliminated, and I was able to make sufficient speed. As a result, I was able to return safely to Komatsushima. Of course, the fuel tank was almost empty when I arrived, and I was scolded by the owner of the boat. I am sorry, I did not know that it was a distance I was not allowed to go.

The third miracle was the purchase of the island. Since the island is associated with Kukai, I wanted to somehow protect it carefully and obtain it. To achieve this, although it was impossible, it was a dream come true to purchase the island and turn it into my own island. As a matter of common sense, an island as large as Takegashima is not something that can be purchased. One day, however, I had a chance encounter with the owner of the island and his family. And just at that time, the owner was willing to sell the island! It was not only a chance encounter, but also a chance to purchase the island at the same time. If this is not a miracle, I don’t know what this is.

Why is Takegashima important to me? Simply put, it is because, through these miracles, I came to realize that Takegashima is associated with Kukai and is undoubtedly an ancient sacred place. Thus, I became passionate about my mission that I must manage Takegashima myself. Once again, I’m going to reflect on the importance of Takegashima.

Although Takegashima is a remote island (now connected by a bridge), there is a huge rock formation on the Pacific Ocean side of the island, and on the magnificently carved megaliths, deities have been worshiped along with round stones since ancient times. Why would people have crossed to the not so large island of Takegashima and worshiped deities on the towering megaliths on its eastern side facing the Pacific Ocean? This is an unusual and mysterious question. In addition, this megalith rising like a huge wall of rock can be seen as a series of three rock formations when viewed from the sea in the distance. There was a time in ancient times when the number ‘3’ was considered important in religious matters. Examples include the Trinity, Mitsuishi (three stones), and Mitsu-torii (three gates). The barrier rock at the foot of Mount Rokko in Hyogo Prefecture also has a splendid series of three stones. If the three rows of megaliths on Takegashima are a product of nature, they can only be considered a mysterious work of art by the hand of God. Today, the Takegashima Shrine stands at the entrance to the island. On the east side of the island, near a beach called Urauso, there is a boulder that looks like a huge wall of rock. This is the inner shrine of Takegashima Shrine.

There is also a legend that a golden bird, the Kumano Gongen, has long flown to the two tiny islets floating between Takegashima and the neighboring Kazurashima. The golden bird is enshrined as the deity at the Kumano Shrine on the inland of the island. The golden bird is reminiscent of the two cherubim shaped like birds that are displayed on top of a sacred treasure shaped like a portable shrine, also called the Ark of the Covenant in Israel. In addition, carrying an underwater portable shrine has long been held at the Takegashima Shrine. The portable shrine is carried underwater to worship the gods. Perhaps it is a symbolic ceremony of the ancient practice of unloading the ark of the covenant from a ship, in which everyone carried the ark with two sticks and dipped it into the sea as prescribed.

The importance of Takegashima is too numerous to enumerate. The most notable is the existence of the bamboo forest. Why was the area between the two series of giant rocks, right in the center of the island, developed and planted with bamboo? The reason must be that the bamboo forest was intended to solidify the land. On the east side of the bamboo forest, the Pacific Ocean side, the soil seems to have been heaped up enough to create a gentle mountain road. This appears to have been done to block the tsunami coming from the Pacific Ocean side. By growing a bamboo forest behind it, it can be completely protected from the effects of a tsunami. Then I see the possibility that the existence of the bamboo forest is related to something important. In other words, it is conceivable that the bamboo was planted to protect something, and the ground was hardened.

When I think of the existence of Takegashima in this way, it seems that a dream is truly nurtured. The island that I own is associated with Kukai, is near the place where the golden bird flew over in ancient times, and a bamboo forest has been planted there to protect the island. It is truly an island of dreams. The dream of Takegashima never ends.