Kurokami Buried Torii

Introduction

The Kurokami Buried Torii is a volcanic disaster relic in Kurokami on Sakurajima's eastern side. The great Taisho eruption began on 12 January 1914 and lasted a month, ejecting over three billion tonnes of lava and sending ash 18,000 metres up; it joined the once-separate island to the Osumi Peninsula and buried all 687 households of the Kurokami district. A three-metre torii of the Haragoshasha shrine was buried by ash and pumice, leaving only its top beam and crosspiece, about one metre, above ground. Villagers wanted to dig it out, but the head of East Sakurajima village argued for keeping the damaged state as a warning to later generations, so the waist-high fragment still stands and is designated a Kagoshima prefectural natural monument. A large ficus beside it miraculously survived, the shrine hall behind remains open for worship, and a small red hut at the entrance displays period photographs. The site is free, open at all hours and has a small free car park with toilets, about a 30-minute drive from Sakurajima Port; island buses are infrequent, so plan connections. Seeing a crossbeam at waist height conveys the scale of that eruption more concretely than any figure.

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🛈 Practical Info