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Kagoshima, the prefecture that wraps across the southern end of the Japanese island of Kyushu, is claimed by some to resemble the pinnacle of a dragon. At the mouth of this dragon stands Sakurajima, one in all the country’s most lively volcanoes, whose plumes of smoke can often be seen from the capital, Kagoshima City, just a brief ferry ride away.
The area’s extraordinary natural features, which also include a sprawling 1,500-year-old camphor tree, the most important in Japan, have famously inspired art of equal beauty. The director Hayao Miyazaki visited Kagoshima’s densely forested Yakushima island to recreate the scenery of its Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine for his 1997 animated film, “Princess Mononoke.” But while Tokyo and Kyoto proceed to attract stampedes of Western tourists, Kagoshima still seems to draw mostly Japanese and other Asian visitors, wanting to explore the prefecture’s peninsulas and islands and take shopping trips to the pottery village of Miyama in town of Hioki.
History enthusiasts know Kagoshima, which incorporates what was once the feudal domain of Satsuma, because the birthplace, in 1828, of Saigo Takamori, referred to as the last samurai, who led the movement to overthrow the military shogunate in Edo (present-day Tokyo). The region was also the house of the Shimadzu clan, which, throughout the Edo period (1603-1868), while the remaining of Japan largely closed its borders to foreigners, maintained connections with other East Asian nations through its trade with the Ryukyu Kingdom and later promoted technological exchange with England. The clan’s endeavors helped pave the way in which for the country’s industrial revolution within the latter half of the nineteenth century. Sengan-en, a 1658 Shimadzu villa in Kagoshima City, is open to the general public, showcasing lush gardens, a palace and a museum. Farther south are a series of exceptionally picturesque islands, including Tanegashima, site of the country’s largest rocket-launch center; the wooded Yakushima; and the Amami chain, with its teeming coral reefs.
