Kabushima Shrine was added to Your Favorites!
Sanriku Fukkō NP, Aomori
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
Since 1922, this 1.8-hectare natural monument has hosted roughly 30,000 nesting black-tailed gulls right around the shrine. Hachinohe calls it Japan’s only colony where people can watch nesting up close.
Local lore says an umineko dropping brings good fortune—not bad luck. If a bird hits you, the shrine can issue a “kaiun” certificate, turning a messy encounter into a lucky souvenir.
The shrine’s Benzaiten is shown with 8 arms holding a bow, sword, axe, snare, arrow, mallet, spear and jewel. A torii and a child-blessing deity sit above her head.
After fire destroyed the shrine in 2015, rebuilding took about 5 years partly because work stopped during gull breeding season, April–August. Donations from locals and visitors helped fund its return.
Hachinohe fishermen regarded the gulls as Benzaiten’s messengers, believing they revealed fish-rich waters. They prayed at the shrine for safe voyages and a generous catch.
Before the 2015 fire, the shrine ceiling carried gull paintings made by 115 sixth-graders from Same Elementary School. The birds were not just shrine symbols; they were local children’s own artwork.
Umineko arrive from late February, lay eggs in spring, raise chicks through July and mostly depart in August. The bird is also Hachinohe’s official city bird.
One local explanation traces “kabu” in Kabushima to wild rapeseed once called kabu-no-hana. In May, yellow blooms still color the island beneath the circling gulls.
In Japanese, kabu—the first part of Kabushima’s name—also means stocks or shares. Visitors pray at the shrine for their investments, and even their personal standing, to rise.
A local “un-biraki meguri” custom invites worshippers to circle the shrine 3 times before praying—a walk said to cleanse body and mind and open the way to good fortune.
Local shrine tradition says a Kamakura-era exile, Inu-bōmaru, saw Kabushima as a northern Enoshima and enshrined Benzaiten there to remember home. The shrine dates this origin to 1296.
Hachinohe’s feudal lords patronized the shrine. Local history says the 3rd lord, praying for a male heir, later had a son—one reason the shrine became known for prayers for safe childbirth.
At April’s Kabushima Festival, a gull-decorated mikoshi is carried down the shrine steps. In July, the Samehama Festival takes it to the nearby beach and ceremonially dips it in the sea.
Although Kabushima is now connected to shore, it was once separated from the mainland. A bridge arrived in 1919; wartime reclamation joined the island to the land in 1943.
The 2011 tsunami destroyed many buildings along the shore but spared Kabushima Shrine. A marker on the shrine steps shows how high the water reached—a small landmark carrying a large memory.
A memorial at the shrine remembers coast-defense ship Inagi, sunk off Hachinohe on August 9, 1945, with 29 crew killed. Relatives and locals still gather here each August 9 for a remembrance service.
Look up in the rebuilt shrine: 5 heavenly figures hold traditional instruments, while the central one carries a rapeseed flower and gulls take flight to carry prayers. The design links island flower, birds and faith.
The chorus of black-tailed gulls at Hachinohe Port and Kabushima is one of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment’s “100 Soundscapes.” Even the island’s everyday birdsong has national recognition.
