Miiraku
Goto
The Goto Islands lie at the westernmost tip of Japan. In ancient times, when diplomatic missions were dispatched from Japan to Tang Dynasty China, Goto was their final port of call immediately before crossing the East China Sea bound for the continent. Hizen-no-Kuni Fudoki, (Chronicles of Hizen Province), contains a reference to “Mineraku no Saki” (Mineraku promontory), and nearby, there are several spots with a connection to the missions to Tang China. These include Fuzengo, a well that is said to have supplied drinking water to the missions’ ships. In the 10th century journal, Kagero Nikki, Miiraku is referred to in a waka poem, as “The island where one can meet the departed – the isle of Mimiraku.” In later generations, Miiraku became the subject of many poems and songs, as an island on the border with foreign lands and as the island of the Western Pure Land (the Buddhist paradise).
