Suzu Island, Natural monument in Mie Prefecture, Japan.
Suzu Island is an uninhabited island in the Kumano Sea, about 2 km east of the Miura coast in Kihoku, Mie Prefecture. It measures 800 m north to south and 600 m east to west, and contains a brackish lagoon called Suzu-ike. The island is a natural monument for its warm-temperate plant community and breeding seabirds.
Suzu Island's forest was long protected by local fishers as a fish-attracting grove (gyofurin), and a bridge-and-resort plan once existed. In 1956 the northern 4 ha were designated a Mie Prefecture natural monument as a warm-climate plant community; the southern forest had already been logged. In 1968 the island was designated with Maruyama and Akanojima for its reef-building coral, and in 1979 the Kii-Nagashima area, including Suzu, became a nationally protected wildlife special protection zone.
The island's name comes from Suzushima Sankai-ji, a temple in Miura, Kiho town, on the mainland. The surrounding forest has long been protected by local fishers as a fish-attracting grove (gyofu-rin), a customary practice tied to the fishing grounds off the Miura coast.
Suzu Island lies about 2 km off the Miura coast of Kihoku, Mie Prefecture, a 10-minute boat ride from Miura Port, itself about 10 minutes on foot from JR Minoze Station. Landing requires permission from the Kihoku Town Board of Education, and no public transport serves the island. The island is best viewed from the Takatsuka Park observation deck on Miura Beach.
The island's forests were long protected by local fishers as a fish-attracting grove (gyofukurin), and a plan once existed to build a bridge and turn Suzu into a tourist site; it was never carried out. The island's name was taken from Suzu-san Kaizō-ji temple in Miura on the mainland.
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