Kurushima
is a Japanese island in the Inland Sea. Administratively, it forms part of the city of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. Geography Kurushima is situated some off the coast of Shikoku's at the entrance to in Imabari. The island has a coastline of approximately and a surface area of . It is a natural fortress with cliffs to the north shaped by the fast currents (some to ) and rocks below; there is a settlement on the flatter land to the south, around a small bay. To the east, the are spanned by the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge, while the island is protected as part of Setonaikai National Park. History During the Sengoku period, the island was the base of the Kurushima Murakami, one of the three main houses of the Murakami kaizoku (the others the Noshima Murakami and Innoshima Murakami). There are still remains of the walls of , an element of Japan Heritage "Story" #036, as well as traces of residences and wells. In the Edo period, together with nearby , the island was part of in Matsuyama Domain, with an assessment of twenty-six koku, three to, and nine shō. Around the end of the Kyōhō era in the early eighteenth