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Hundreds of black-tailed gulls nesting on the grassy, rocky slopes of Kabushima island
Photo: 張振, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Aomori · shrine

Kabushima Shrine

蕪嶋神社

A shrine atop a small island where over 30,000 black-tailed gulls raise chicks from spring to summer, a rare chance to watch seabirds up close.

Red torii gate and stone lanterns at the foot of the steps up to Kabushima Shrine, with gulls overhead
Photo: house-nasu, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Kabushima, a small green island joined to the shore, seen from the coastal road above the sea
Photo: ohkubo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A shrine on an island of gulls

Kabushima Shrine (Kabushima Jinja) stands on top of Kabushima, a small island on the coast of Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture. The island is a national Natural Monument as a breeding ground for umineko, black-tailed gulls, a seabird of the gull family that lives along the coasts of East Asia. It was once a separate island, but in 1942 the former Japanese military carried out land reclamation work, and it is now joined to the mainland.

The shrine is dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten. It is said to have been founded in 1296, and local people have long worshipped her as a protector of safety at sea and of thriving business. In Hachinohe, the gulls have been cherished as messengers of Benzaiten who show fishermen where the fish are.

The shrine building burned down completely in a fire in November 2015, but donations poured in from all over Japan and it was rebuilt over about five years. Since March 2020 people have again been able to worship there.

The season of 30,000 to 40,000 gulls

The gulls arrive on the island from late February to around March, start laying eggs from around late April, and the chicks hatch around June. At the peak there are 30,000 to 40,000 of them, so many that the island seems buried in gulls. Once they finish raising their young around August, most of them leave.

It is rare to find so many seabirds raising their young so close to where people live, and here you can watch gulls that are not afraid of people from very close by. In mid-May, rapeseed flowers bloom on the island, and you can see yellow blossoms, a red torii (the gate that marks a shrine) and white gulls side by side.

Because kabu (turnip, as in the island's name) sounds the same as kabu meaning shares, the shrine is said to make your kabu rise, whether that is your share price or your standing with others, and its gourd-shaped omamori charms are popular.

Getting there and getting around

It is about a 15-minute walk from Same Station on the JR Hachinohe Line. You can also get off at the Kabushima Kaihin Koen stop on the Umineko-go, the Tanesashi Coast sightseeing bus.

Kabushima marks the northern entrance to the Tanesashi Coast in Sanriku Fukko National Park. Nearby, within walking distance, are the Hachinohe City Kabushima Rest Area, where large windows let you watch the gulls, and the Marient fisheries science museum. Head south along the sea and you can also enjoy the Tanesashi Coast scenery of lighthouses and open grassland.

Tips

  • Around May there are eggs all over the ground at your feet, and parent birds may threaten you if you get close. Watch where you step and keep your distance from the birds.
  • Local lore says that if a gull's dropping hits you, you should go to the shrine office. It is a pun: un means both poop and luck, so your luck might just open up.
  • The gulls are most numerous and noisiest from spring to early summer. After August you will hardly see any.
  • In spring the Kabushima Festival is held (in 2026 on 25 and 26 April), with events including a procession of the mikoshi (a portable shrine that carries the deity and is borne on people's shoulders).

Sources

Updated 29 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.

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