Ogasawara · JP

Tsukigaoka Shrine

Tsukigaoka Shrine (月ヶ岡神社, Tsukigaoka-jinja) is a small, tranquil Shinto shrine set just behind Oki Port on Hahajima, the second-largest inhabited island of the Ogasawara (Bonin) chain—administratively part of Tokyo but reachable only after a long ocean voyage. Revered as the guardian deity (ujigami) of the island's Motochi settlement, it is the spiritual heart of a community that lives among some of the most isolated and biologically unique islands anywhere in Japan. What makes the shrine memorable is its setting rather than grand architecture: a humble, leafy compound where the island's native birds gather, and—tucked beneath the grounds—the entrance to the old Kiyomigaoka limestone cave, an unusual natural feature folded into an act of worship. A few steps away, the port, the Ross Museum and Hahajima's WW II-era promenade make it an easy anchor for a half-day of island wandering.