page_title: Chikubu Island
section_title: Cultural significance
hierarchical_section_title: Chikubu Island / Cultural significance
caption_attribution_description: English: Chikubu Island (Chikubu-jima and Hogon-ji) in Nagahama, Shiga prefecture, Japan 日本語: 竹生島, 滋賀県長浜市
context_page_description: Chikubu is a small island in the northern part of Biwa Lake of Japan. It is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site.
  The coastline of island measures 2 km. It is the second largest island in Lake Biwa, after Oki island. The island is part of Hazayaki-cho, in Nagahama city of Shiga Prefecture.
context_section_description: The island is also called the Island of the Gods and designated as one of the Eight Views of Lake Biwa. Several works of the Japanese performing arts relate to Chikubu. They include the Noh play Chikubushima and the Heike Biwa work Chikubushima Mōde, two koto melodies named Chikubushima, a jōruri (itchūbushi), a nagauta, and a tokiwazu-bushi of the same name.
  There are various places of interest on the island. In the southern part is the Tsukubusuma Shrine, said to have been established in 420, and Hōgon-ji, a Shingon temple said to date from 724. Formerly known as Chikubu Benzai-ten, it ranks with the Enoshima Shrine in the Kantō region and the Itsukushima Shrine in the Chūgoku Region as one of Japan's Three Great Shrines of Benzaiten. Many structures were brought to the island by Toyotomi Hideyori, son of general Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kannon Hall and the Karamon-style gate were brought here from the gravesite (Toyokuni-byo; now Toyokuni Shrine) of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. They originally stood in the Higashiyama ward of Kyoto, and are regarded as fine examples of architecture from the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Moreover, the Karamon gate is a National Treasure of Japan.
  During the Sengoku period, retainers of Azai Nagamasa confined his father Hisamasa to Chikubu Island, forcing him into retirement and establishing Nagamasa as his successor.
caption: Chikubu Island coastline
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "SONY DSC", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSLR-A100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:05:01 10:11:46", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 1, 0, 22, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "404", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1134", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7427", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:02 12:00:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:02 12:00:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "381/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "116/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "30", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1936, 1296, 329, 393]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3300", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1008", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "45", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}