This photograph was taken at Wshuzan, one of the best viewing spots in the Inland Sea area. Though this seascape is well known, an island in the center of this photo isn’t well known even to Japanese people. The name of this island is Matsushima, which means the island of pine. Number of habitants is said to be less than 5 at present. Historically, this island was related to Sumitomo Fujiwara (A.C. 893-941), who was a medieval soldier and died leaving the legend of buried treasure. It has been said that ninety-nine jars containing Gold still exist somewhere related to him in the Inland Sea area. Other than his treasure, several legends of buried treasures of medieval pirates exist around the Inland Sea islands.
These days, rental services of ground-penetrating radar are becoming personally affordable range (e.g. 50,000yen a day). I hope each island municipality buys ground-penetrating radar and lends out for visitors. As an event of vitalizing tourism projects in the deserted area, the experience of searching buried treasure may be promising.
Anyway, there are lots of legends of buried treasures in various regions in Japan. With the assistance of ground-penetrating radar, the day of discovery of Sumitomo Fujiwara’s treasure may become nearer than before.
