Sands of Awaji-shima - Awaji Island (淡路島) Japan - First born of the gods

Photo and story by Stephen A. Nelson

This is a small island connected to the main island of Awaji, in central Japan.

 It's in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshu and Shikoku - so it's a relatively short boat ride from the port city of Kobe.

It is connected to Kobe by the longest suspension bridge in the world - even though that bridge collapsed during the 1995 earthquake that flattened much of downtown Kobe. The fault that caused the earthquake cuts right across Awaji-shima.

  

In the Japanese Shinto creation mythology, Awaji was the first of the oyashima islands born from the union of two Japanese deities, Izanagi and Izanami.

So it's an important place in Shinto, as well as a centre for a 500-year old form of puppet theatre that has its roots in religious ceremony.