Chiringa-shima (知林ヶ島)

Chiringa-sima is an uninhabited island just inside the entrance to Kinko bay near National Park Resort IBUSUKI (Kyuka-mura IBUSUKI / 休暇村指宿).

An 800m long sandbar appears at low tide during the flood tide or the middle tide from March to October.

The sandbar appears as a little winding path in the sea, and you can cross to the island along this path.
It gives you a special feeling to walk across the sandbar from the Ibusuki side to the island. It takes about 20 minutes to the island. The longest time the sandbar appears is for five hours.

 

Matchmaking Island

The island is known as a matchmaking island. This place was used as a shooting location for a TV drama, and many couples visit the island.
There are several things for these people there.

♡ Chirin’s Heart

Two different sized objects are placed on the Ibusuki shore. Depending on the angle to see these objects, they look heart-shaped. It is a good place to take some pictures against the background of Chiringa-shima.

♡ Chi-kai (Chi貝)

Tie a shell on which you write your wish on a chain on the “Chikai-no Oka (誓貝の丘) at the entrance of the sandbar.
Shells (200 yen each) are sold at Ibusuki City Tourist Information Center at JR Ibusuki Station and National Park Resort IBUSUKI (Kyuka-mura IBUSUKI / 休暇村指宿).

The shells which are tied on the chain will be dedicated to Ryugu Shrine (龍宮神社) in Ibusuki after a while.

♡ Chirin’s BELL

Chirin’s BELL is located on the hill of Chirin-ga Shima. It is said if you ring the bell praying for happiness, your wish will be fulfilled. The view from this place is great, too.

 

Walking Across The Sea

Waking across the sea is really an exciting experience.
But, it is still the sea, so you need to be careful. If anything happened, a fun day could be turned into a terrible day.

Please do not try to walk across to the island in bad weather.

The path disappears very quickly once the tide starts to come in, so check the appearance time of the path and give yourself plenty of time to across back.

The tide current is very fast around the sandbar, so if the sandbar isn’t visible, please do not walk across.

Some blue-ringed octopuses (Hyomon-dako / ヒョウモンダコ) have been seen on the shores in Ibusuki city. They are about 5cm~10cm long and they have brown patches like panthers’. When they are agitated, iridescent blue rings or clumps of rings appear.
If you are bitten by one of them, you might not feel it directly; however, it injects a venom powerful enough to kill a human. The venom causes respiratory arrest.

Do not touch them. They live in shallow water and coastal rocks.

 

Sandbar Appearance Time (predicted) And The Amount of Time Visible

 

July 2018

 

Date		Sandbar Appearance Time	Length of Time
1	Sun	11:55 ~ 18:05	6h10m
2	Mon	12:35 ~ 18:35	6h
3	Tue	13:15 ~ 19:05	5h50m
4	Wed	14:00 ~ around 19:30	About5h30m
5	Thu	14:55 ~ around 19:30	About4h35m
6	Fri	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
7	Sat	6:00 ~ 9:30	3h30m
8	Sun	6:35 ~ 11:20	4h45m
9	Mon	7:10 ~ 12:45	5h35m
10	Tue	7:50 ~ 13:50	6h
11	Wed	8:30 ~ 14:50	6h20m
12	Thu	9:15 ~ 15:45	6h30m
13	Fri	10:05 ~ 16:35	6h30m
14	Sat	10:55 ~ 17:20	6h25m
15	Sun	11:45 ~ 18:00	6h15m
16	Mon	12:35 ~ 18:40	6h5m
17	Tue	13:30 ~ 19:10	5h40m
18	Wed	14:30 ~ Around 19:20	About 4h50m
19	Thu	15:40 ~ Around 19:20	About 3h40m
20	Fri	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
21	Sat	6:10 ~ 10:25	4h15m
22	Sun	7:00 ~ 12:00	5h
23	Mon	7:40 ~ 13:10	5h30m
24	Tue	8:20 ~ 14:00	5h40m
25	Wed	8:55 ~ 14:45	5h50m
26	Thu	9:30 ~ 15:25	5h55m
27	Fri	10:05 ~ 16:00	5h55m
28	Sat	10:45 ~ 16:35	5h50m
29	Sun	11:20 ~ 17:00	5h40m
30	Mon	11:55 ~ 17:30	5h35m
31	Tue	12:35 ~ 17:50	5h15m

 

August 2018

Date		Sandbar Appearance Time	Length of Time
1	Wed	13:15 ~ 18:15	5h
2	Thu	14:00 ~ 18:35	4h35m
3	Fri	14:55 ~ 18:50	3h55m
4	Sat	16:10 ~ 19:05	2h55m
5	Sun	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
6	Mon	5:45 ~ 10:30	4h45m
7	Tue	6:40 ~ 12:10	5h30m
8	Wed	7:30 ~ 13:25	5h55m
9	Thu	8:20 ~ 14:30	6h10m
10	Fri	9:15 ~ 15:20	6h5m
11	Sat	10:05 ~ 16:10	6h5m
12	Sun	10:55 ~ 16:50	5h55m
13	Mon	11:45 ~ 17:25	5h40m
14	Tue	12:40 ~ 17:55	5h15m
15	Wed	13:30 ~ 18:15	4h45m
16	Thu	14:30 ~ 18:30	4h
17	Fri	15:50 ~ 18:30	2h40m
18	Sat	*The tidal range is small, so the sandbar doesn’t appear.	×
19	Sun	Around 5:45 ~ 9:25	About 3h40m
20	Mon	6:30 ~ 10:55	4h25m
21	Tue	7:25 ~ 12:15	4h50m
22	Wed	8:10 ~ 13:15	5h5m
23	Thu	8:50 ~ 14:05	5h15m
24	Fri	9:30 ~ 14:45	5h15m
25	Sat	10:05 ~ 15:20	5h15m
26	Sun	10:40 ~ 15:55	5h15m
27	Mon	11:15 ~ 16:20	5h5m
28	Tue	11:50 ~ 16:45	4h55m
29	Wed	12:30 ~ 17:05	4h35m
30	Thu	13:15 ~ 17:25	4h10m
31	Fri	14:05 ~ 17:40	3h35m

*The sandbar appearance time will be updated as required.
Map (Chirin-ga Shima)

（From Chiringa-shima）

Category : Information , text @en

Tag : 日本の文化