Ganryujima

Ganryujima's official name is Funashima, and the island you land on is not quite the one where, by the traditional account, Miyamoto Musashi met Sasaki Kojiro on the 13th day of the 4th month of 1612 and killed him with a wooden sword. A reef was blasted away in the Taisho era and landfill then made the island about six times its size at the time of the duel. Even the date and Musashi's age that day are disputed. What you find now is about 0.1 square kilometers of flat grass in the Kanmon Strait, less than 10 m above the sea, with nobody living on it. On the plaza the two men face off in bronze, Kojiro unveiled in 2002 and Musashi in 2003, and below it a rebuilt sandy beach holds a replica of the boat Musashi is said to have arrived in. The shoreline is only about 1.6 km round, so a full lap is a short walk, with cargo ships passing close by in the strait. There are toilets and rest shelters but no shop and no vending machines, so bring a drink, especially in summer. Kanmon Kisen's boat from Karato takes about 10 minutes.