Wang Xinyan/Ocean University of China
In the past ten years, I have traveled to six islands, large and small, in China and Japan. Some visited randomly for just one or two days, and some visited with purposes and questions. Some have visited the island several times, and some have stayed on the island for a period of time in order to serve the island society. Encountering Futakami Island in the Seto Inland Sea, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, where the population is highly aged, belongs to the last situation. Probably because the original purpose was service (texting and digitizing the tombstones of Ergami Island and Ergami family archives) rather than personal investigation and research, I actually had more freedom to observe and think after entering the island. , these observations and reflections continued to form a dialogue with my other subsequent fieldwork. Therefore, although it has been nearly ten years since my first landing on the island and more than five years since my second landing, it still continues to appear in my sights and thoughts during subsequent island investigations. This is also the reason why Xiaowen chose it as the object of this record.
The vast expanse of blue waters of the Seto Inland Sea. The pictures in this article were all taken by the author.
Futami Island is located 20 kilometers northwest of Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, at 33 55′ 48.4″ north latitude and 132 31′ 53.4″ east longitude. It belongs to the Kuna Islands in the Seto Inland Sea of ??Japan. The Hona Islands are located between Anunada and Iyo Beach in the Seto Inland Sea. They consist of 7 inhabited islands including Nakashima, Tsuwaji Island, Nuwa Island, Futami Island, Mutsuki Island, Nohona Island, and Yuri Island, and 22 uninhabited islands. Made up of human islands. The entire area belongs to the Seto Inland Sea National Park and has a beautiful natural environment. Ergami Island is located at the southwest end of the archipelago. It is long and narrow from east to west, with a coastline of 9.9 kilometers, an area of ??2.15 square kilometers, and an altitude of 90.8 meters. As of December 2021, there are only 98 residents on the island, and their production and living areas are concentrated in the north of the island. On the other side, it is mainly engaged in citrus cultivation and marine fishing. It is a treasure house of delicious citrus juice and high-quality seafood. On the south side of the island is a cliff. Surrounded by uninhabited islands such as Yuri Island, Koichi Island, Nakajima Island, Hengdao Island, and Yabei Island.
According to the fishermen on the island, Ergami Island was named because there are two conical mountains on the island. Both mountains are dedicated to gods and are used by fishermen to navigate the sea. symbol, so it is called Ershen; one theory is that in history, the lord of Ershen Island was once the Ershen clan. In short, the origin of the name has a strong meaning of the interweaving of nature and humanity. In 1972, National Geographic (May issue), the world's authoritative geography magazine, devoted 26 pages to introducing Futami Island. Futami Island was also recorded in American high school world geography textbooks. It has been described as "a paradise island that has not been modernized and has preserved the ancient beauty of Japan." Today, the majestic natural scenery and ancient island culture are scattered in every corner of the island and the lives of fishermen of less than 100 people. However, on the highly aging outlying islands, how will these natural and cultural heritage be displayed to the world in the future?
The lonely Takahama Port
Futami Island is an "isolated" island. Only when you really go there can you feel the twists and turns of transportation and the environment of this "isolated" island. The loneliness above. Depart from Tokyo Haneda Airport and arrive at Matsuyama Airport about an hour and a half later. Take a bus from the airport to Matsuyama City Takahama Port. Unlike the bustling Tokyo, there are still very few pedestrians on the streets of this largest city in Shikoku, Japan. It is September. , the vegetation is lush, but the tall and low vegetation with a southern flavor passing by outside the car window is even more lively. Arrive at Takahama Port in about an hour, where we will take a high-speed motorboat from Mitsu Port to Nakajima to Futami Island. There are only a few people waiting at the port, except for our group of more than ten people and the passengers. There were about seven or eight people, including passengers heading to Kamura, Kaminuwa, Genuwa, Tsuwaji and other islands that were stopped on the voyage. Futami Port is the only outlet for residents of Futami Island to connect with the outside world. It departs from Mitsuhama Port-Takahama Port in Matsuyama City. There are ferries or high-speed motorboats arriving every day. There are round-trip ferries every morning and afternoon, and round-trip express trains. There are two motorboat trips every day in the morning and afternoon.
We took the high-speed motorboat at 11:40. There was not much wind and waves that day, and the Seto Inland Sea was blue and blue. Every 20 or 30 minutes, it would stop at an island port in the Kouna Islands for a few minutes. Occasionally, there would be one or two or buckets of hairtail. , or scattered tourists wearing enough sun protection went up and down, but the number was too small, and the increase or decrease in passengers did not cause any noise. Looking at the islands that appeared and disappeared in the distance, I actually fell asleep. Finally, 1 hour and 40 minutes later, I woke up to the sound of everyone packing their luggage, and saw the "Welcome to Futami Island" billboard on the shore. There is no one else. Standing at the small port and looking towards the island, you can see the scene of a fishing village, with traditional Japanese one-family houses and neat streets. There are small citrus orchards on the steep slopes further up the fishing village. Most of the fishermen on the island are half farmers and half fishermen, which is a typical production and living culture of offshore islands.
(Left) Inside an empty high-speed boat. (Right) "Welcome to Futami Island" sign at Futami Island Port
Street scene of Futami Island
Collection and arrangement of Futami family archives, island material cultural heritage The maintenance and organization of data is a routine task of the Japan Seminary Culture Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "Seminyan"). According to Professor Shigeru Tagami and local fishermen, the period from 1952 to 1954 was the first investigation of the archives of the Futami family. At that time, Chang Minyan borrowed the archives of the Futami family and transported them to the Tsukishima Branch Research Office in Tokyo at the time for classification and sorting. In 1968, they were returned to Futamijima. However, when Tsune Minken was handed over to Kanagawa University in 1982, while sorting out the materials, some files that had been missed during the return were discovered. Researcher Yoshihiko Amino immediately decided to go to Futami Island to return it in person. However, times have changed. At this time, the file holders of Futami Island considered the limited data protection conditions and entrusted Tsune Minken to keep all the data on their behalf. That is, for the first time, about 1,000 items about modern Japan (from the mid-16th century to the Meiji Restoration) were collected. file information. The second investigation was in 1996, following a preliminary investigation in 1995. During this preparatory investigation, a large number of modern and contemporary archival materials including various account books were newly discovered. There are more than 6,000 pieces of information in this batch of mainly modern and contemporary archives. More than 7,000 pieces of archival materials obtained from the two investigations have been sorted and now compiled into the "Medieval·Modern Dynasty Edition" (a total of four volumes) of the "Catalog of Archival Materials of the Ershen Family". These archival materials have become indispensable and precious information for future generations to understand and study the history and society of Ergami Island. However, for a long time, the research and utilization of these archival materials has been very insufficient. Except for the "Ehime Prefecture Chronicle" and the archival materials from the Middle Ages introduced by Yoshihiko Amino, there has been almost no research on the materials after modern times. Therefore, in 2008, Chang Minyan began to carry out a series of joint surveys and research on the Seto Inland Sea with Futami Island as the center under the title "Historical Folklore of the Seto Inland Sea". Following the publication of the "Catalog", "Research Edition" was published one after another "Collection of Historical Materials" and other achievements. It has played an important role in presenting the history of Ergami Island better and more comprehensively. The main service content of our trip is an important part of joint investigation and research.
Textualization and graphical investigation of tombstone data
With the above background, most of the people who participated in this service were familiar with the process, and went directly to the B&B to drop off their luggage and go to the B&B’s restaurant. The B&B operators are an old couple over eighty years old, who have lived on Ergami Island for generations, but now none of the children of this old couple live on the island. The grandmother is responsible for three meals a day for the more than ten of us, and the grandfather is responsible for fishing in the sea and preparing ingredients. Therefore, starting from breakfast, almost every meal has fresh fish, shellfish and other seafood. Whether it is eaten raw or steamed, boiled, fried or pan-fried, it tastes extremely delicious.
Three meals a day full of seafood
I learned from this old couple that not only their children had left Ergami Island, but also that in 2012, the island’s largest Young people are also 48 years old, and nearly 80% of residents are over 60 years old.
Later, I specifically checked the population change data of Futami Island. In 2007, there were still three children on the island. However, by 2009, the only school on the island, Matsuyama Municipal Futami Elementary School, was closed, which heralded the closure of the island to this day. No more people were born. There were 166 residents on the island in 2010, 127 in 2015, and only 98 people left in 2021. If this population reduction trend is followed, Futami Island will almost certainly become an uninhabited island in the next 5 to 10 years. However, the decrease in population is mainly due to the death of the elderly. The process of young people leaving Futami Island was basically completed as early as the beginning of the 20th century. The highly aging population and the traffic conditions on the "off-island" also hinder the renewal of living facilities on the island. It can be seen from our three meals a day that although the island is extremely rich in seafood products, daily vegetables and livestock meat are scarce. Including daily necessities such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, firewood, rice, paper, etc., the island is not self-sufficient. Because there are no supermarkets, restaurants, etc., except for a special mini kiosks, not even the most common and daily convenience stores in Japan. Daily necessities can only rely on the "mobile supermarket" that comes to the island once a week and is loaded on a large ship. (Big truck with all kinds of groceries).
(Left) A "mobile supermarket" filled with vegetables. (Right) Residents taking a break on the street after visiting the "supermarket"
On this day, the island residents went to the "mobile supermarket" to buy goods just like going to the market. The only mini shop is full of Showa flavor. An old man sat quietly in front of the only row of small shelves, looking at the sea outside the door and the neighbors who occasionally passed by. There was a small counter with an old abacus on it. After we bought a few bags of starch for smearing on the tombstones to identify the weathered writing, the old man calculated the price with an abacus and reported it to us. He didn’t even have an ordinary calculator. Public service institutions such as schools, kindergartens, nurseries, hospitals, clinics, etc. are no longer available. There is only one post office that is open regularly. If an elderly person is sick, they can only take a few buses every day. The first boat went to Songshan City for medical treatment. The chatty grandparents we met on the roadside would always greet us warmly, and even hold our hands and sit down casually on the roadside to chat for a long time. If we didn’t interrupt them midway, they would have no intention of stopping. , unlike the Japanese who always maintain a sense of distance from others in other places, this is probably one of the reasons why they say "Japan's ancient beauty has been preserved". From the conversations with these "old" islanders and the archives compiled, we roughly understand that Ergami Island is very different from today's prosperous years, as well as the synergistic relationship between Ergami Island and its affiliated uninhabited islands.
The owner of a small shop using an abacus to settle accounts
Before the outbreak of World War II, fishing for sardines, octopus and eels was popular on Futami Island, especially the first two. According to the data of the Futami Island Fishery Cooperative in September of the 41st year of Meiji (1908): At that time, there were 163 households and 1,008 people engaged in fishery production on Futami Island. In addition, there were also those on Yuri Island who also belonged to the same fishery cooperative. There are 5 households and 26 people living there. At that time, there were 9 fishing boats dedicated to sardine trawling, but these 9 fishing boats alone could earn 3,600 yen, and 1,940 yen from sardine fishing. At that time, the value of 1 yen was 10,000 yen today, which means that the income of Futami Island fishermen from sardines was about 55 million yen, accounting for a quarter of all fishing income on the island (21,857 yen) that year. There are more than one, which is the largest industry for the fishermen of Ershen Island. Yuri Island, about 8 kilometers away from Futami Island, is its affiliated island. It can be reached by driving a small fishing boat in about 30 minutes. It is now a veritable uninhabited island, except for the occasional person who participates in wilderness survival training activities. , no one comes to live on the island anymore. But in the 1940s, this small island made of andesite greatly supported the development of Futami Island. A large portion of the sardine fishing depends on Yuri Island. According to the fishermen, they remember that their parents would go to Yuri Island every year during the sardine fishing season in late July and early August, and would not return to Futami Island until the eve of the Autumn Sardine Festival on October 24. When crossing the island, couples often travel in groups, with the most often exceeding 80 couples.
Women are mainly responsible for cooking sardines and making cans. Single young people often find a woman to accompany them when they cross the island, and many people get married because of this. Generally, you need to bring three months of daily necessities such as bedding, miso, soy sauce, firewood, food, and clothes. Of course, if natural conditions permit, there will be ships coming and going the next day, and women can go back to the mother island, Ergami Island, with the ship to pick up the missing items. In order to facilitate the accommodation of fishermen who come to Yuli Island to fish, the fishery cooperative also built four long sheds that can accommodate 100 people for collective living. Now only the ruins are left. During these three months, the child was left on Ershen Island and became a "left-behind child". The fishermen of Futami Island have formed a "seasonal work" survival model between Futami Island and Yuri Island. Small islands like Yuri Island where people only land on the island to engage in production and life in specific seasons are called "seasonal migration" settlement". The seawater backflows into the draft wells, and Yuri Island is not suitable for living in mosquito-infested shacks in summer. However, because there are abundant resources such as sardines here, the fishermen of Futami Island have always been grateful to Yuri Island.
The Usa Hachiman Shrine, built in 1094, has 170 steps.
Every year on October 24th and 25th, residents of Futami Island hold a grand sardine autumn festival. . Speaking of the autumn festival, Futami Island fishermen expressed deep regret: "It can no longer be held now. There are no young people." Because during the autumn festival, young people need to carry the mikoshi from Usa Hachiman Shrine for a parade on the island. , there were three mikoshi at its peak. Two sardine fishing boats are also selected for the boat dance ceremony. The dancers were about 30 middle and high school students under the age of 20. Women wear gorgeous kimonos and perform taiko drum accompaniment and chanting. The rest of the islanders will give flowers to the boat dancers. Finally, young people carry the mikoshi back to the shrine. Judging from the remaining video materials, the specific activities of the Autumn Festival are much more complicated. During these two days, all islanders unite to celebrate the sardine harvest. The next day we devoted ourselves to agricultural activities.
(Left) Fishing boats moored at Futami Island Fishing Port. (Right) A couple who now return to Futami Island to engage in agricultural production
Agricultural activities were not originally an important industry for the residents of Futami Island because the land available for cultivation on Futami Island was limited. But before and after World War II, ordinary Japanese people also faced problems such as food shortages caused by the war. In addition, Futami Island and Yuri Island, which are outlying islands, are important defense bases such as Hiroshima and Matsuyama, so the navy was stationed. The country also ordered the citizens to increase food production, so the islanders had to think about how to provide a large amount of food for the army. While going to Yuri Island for sardine fishing, the islanders also discovered the possibility of cultivating farmland on Yuri Island. So during the war, the residents of Futami Island began to cultivate fields on Yuri Island to grow wheat, taro and other satiating food crops, and provided them to the garrison in large quantities. At that time, the troops in other places felt that the soldiers on Yuri Island had rosy faces. However, because it is a military base, fighter planes often pass by on the island, and the sound of artillery shells and gunfire is also very common. The islanders of Futami Island are forced to get involved in the war, almost risking their lives to cultivate farmland and provide food for the army.
However, by the 1960s, both the sardine fishing that once accumulated a lot of wealth for the residents of Futami Island and the land reclamation that solved the food problem during the war gradually became history. Yuri Island's sardine production has been declining year by year, so much so that it has entered into a battle for fishing rights with the Takahama region. After the war, there was a citrus planting boom influenced by the United States, but with changes in the dollar market, prices plummeted in the 1960s. So starting in 1960, the fishermen's production on Futami Island was gradually withdrawn from Yuri Island, and by 1996, no residents came to the island to farm anymore. This cooperation between the main island and the affiliated islands came to an end after half a century, and Yuri Island gradually returned to its original state.
However, the adaptable life wisdom of the residents of the outlying islands is also reflected in the close relationship between the two islands. Now I am walking on Alar Beach, one of Futami Island’s famous attractions. The colorful boulders of different sizes are struck by the waves and make a pleasant sound. Directly in front of the beach is Yuri Island.
The giant cactus on the island
It is not just the fishermen’s memories and archival records that bear witness to the prosperity of Futami Island.
There are also natural and cultural attractions on the island. In the home of an islander on the island, there is a huge cactus tree that is more than 130 years old. Next to it stands a monument that records the glorious history of Japan's Takamatsu Palace in 1967. There is also the Chinese poetry stele of Sotake Rigoka. After the Great Kanto Earthquake, this representative Japanese sculptor came to her wife's hometown Futami Island to live in seclusion, and established a studio "Wounsanbo" here to Fengyue was a friend and left behind many works.
One of the tombstone groups on the island
There are also several groups of tombstones on the east and west sides of the island, commemorating the generations of islanders who once worked in the sea on Ergami Island. Today, the remaining less than a hundred fishermen are fishing and growing oranges on the island day after day, quietly heading towards the end of their lives together with the tombstones where their ancestors lived. Just as the fishermen of Futami Island said when talking about the history of Yuri Island, "Yuri Island is slowly returning to its original natural appearance." That lonely tone has been echoing in my ears, and Futami Island With the extreme aging of the island residents, the fate of the island will inevitably enter its twilight years in the life of the "people", and it will silently welcome the "unmanned people" with its own scenery and traces left by people. ” stage of rebirth. One day in the future we may only be able to find the figures of the ancestors of Ergami Island from the archives that have been in progress for more than 70 years. This is probably also the fate of many outlying islands and one of the significance of our data collection.
References:
Tsunemu Nochi, "Folklore Studies of the People who Moved to the Developed Islands" "Japanese Culture Essay Series" Issue 19, 2012, Japanese Culture Research Laboratory, Aichi University of Education , 2011.
Miyamoto Tsuneichi "Investigation Report on Rural Islands Promotion" Episode 1, National Council for the Promotion of Outlying Islands, 1960.
Miyamoto Tsuneichi, "Research on the Seto Inland Sea, Social Formation of the Islands - Sea People's Settlement Center," Miraisha, 1965.
Kinoshita Shuji's "The Uninhabited Island" published by Hoshino, 1999.
Proofreading: Shi Jun