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 century there were some seventy-eight households, fifty-three of them of fishermen. By Shōwa 53 (1978) this number had dropped to thirty-nine households, primarily making a living by commuting to the local shipyards and line fishing. As of 2009, Kurushima had thirty-two residents. Related maps See also Setonaikai National Park Noshima Innoshima References External links Japan's outlying islands (MLIT) Detailed maps of Setonaikai National Park (Ministry of the Environment; Kurushima is in 愛媛県地域（今治南）) Imabari, Ehime Islands of the Seto Inland Sea Islands of Ehime Prefecture