JAPANESE UTOPIA WITHOUT THEFTS, QUARRELS OR FIRES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 302, 21 December 1931, Page 6

JAPANESE UTOPIA WITHOUT THEFTS, QUARRELS OR FIRES.

To-day’s Signed Article

The World*s Strangest Community Lives on the Island of Hatsushima.

By George R. Hyde

Possibly the strangest community in the world lives on the island of Hatsushima, just opposite the seacoast city of Atami, less than a day's journey from Yokohama or Tokto. And it is, possibly, the least known of any of the strange and beautiful spots which await the traveller to the Orient.

The origin of Hatsushima and its people has been lost in antiquity. Certainly they have existed for many centuries. There is not a family on the island to-day who cannot take a visitor to the Tomei Temple graveyard and point out the graves of direct ancestors who lived five, six, seven and eight centuries ago. Their ancestry is their chief pride.

THE town of Hatsushima lies on the sheltered side of the islands, some distance back from the shore and partly hidden by foliage. The houses are typically Japanese, of course. They line two sides of a single, narrow street. At the farthest end stands the temple and beside it the graveyard. There are no stores, no theatres or other places of amusement, and no refreshment places. There is, however, the public bath house, without which no rural Japanese community would be complete.. The strangest part about Hatsushima is the fact that from time immemorial the population has been limited to forty-two families. Why the exact number and how and when the custom began is not known. But such is the custom, and because of this only the eldest son in each family may marry and reside on the island. Others must go to the mainland. Communal Government. The population to-day numbers 283 persons, 144 men and 139 women. The residents are fishermen by trade. The men go to sea in their boats for the catch. They return to Hatsushima with their catch, and sufficient is left there for the needs of the islanders. The balance is taken to Atami, where it is sold, the fishermen returning with cloth and other things the islanders have ordered. Government of the island is communal. No one owns anything, yet everyone owns everything. The women cultivate the truck gardens while their husbands fish. Profits from both fishing and gardening are placed in a central fund for the use of all. There are no labour troubles, no periods of business depression, no strife, no quarrelling. If there ever was a Utopia it is Hatsushima. The Rev Ito Kosuge, head of the Buddhist sect on the island, himself a scholar and student, is probably the best informed man in Japan on the residents of Hatsushima. “ I have been studying the history of this island and the ancestors of the villagers for thirty years,” he said, “ and some day I may publish a pamphlet for the benefit of visitors and tourists. Hatsushima is one of the most unusual places in all Japan. No Thefts or Quarrels. “ The villagers have sufficient income to

maintain the life of middle-class people. The educational standard is low, the highest course being that of the primary school. But there has never been a theft on the island, never a quarrel, never a fire. The people sleep with their doors open. They are very religious, and when one takes ill the entire village goes to the temple and offers prayers to Buddha for the speedy recovery of the patient. “ The communal farm is situated on the slopes of the hill. It is divided among the families, each having from 600 to 1200 tsubo, depending upon the number in the family, to raise whatever kind of vegetables is desired. Surplus vegetables and fish are sold to the people of Atami or Ajiro and the proceeds go into a central treasury. “ According to the records of the dead buried in the cemetery, I can trace every family on the island back for five, six, seven and eight centuries. And I believe their ancestors lived here many centuries before that. In any event, this temple was founded more than eight centuries ago, according to temple records. An Old Romance. “ Why the island was named Hatsushima is not known, but there are several traditions of romantic interest associated with the name. One version is that long ago there was a young lady on the island named Hatsuko. She fell in love with a young man w’ho lived on the beach at Atami. Neither of them had a boat, but the young lady had a tub, and each evening with the fall of darkness she would set out in the tub to join her sweetheart, using the light in the temple as a guide One night she was overcome by a tempest and drowned. So the island was naxnea Hatsushima.” There is no doubt but what the even tenor of the island is to be disturbed in the near future. Tourist bureaus are pointing it out, and many Japanese go there over Sunday. The four foreigners who were present at the last ceremony were among the first that have ever witnessed the dance. However, since the age-old customs of the villagers are so ingrown, it will be many years before tourists or other causes will result in any extensive change in life and customs on the quaint Isle of Hatsu-shima.—(Anglo-American N.S. Copyright.) I®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®