Kisakata Kujukushima
viewpoint
象潟九十九島
Former lagoon islands now rising from rice paddies. Basho's lost maritime landscape.
These 'ninety-nine islands' were once islets in a coastal lagoon visited by haiku master Basho in 1689. A massive earthquake in 1804 raised the seabed by two meters, transforming the lagoon into rice paddies with tree-covered hillocks rising from the fields like landlocked islands. From the hilltop viewpoint, the surreal landscape of green mounds dotting flooded paddies is best seen during June rice planting.
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