A gentle ridgeline paints the space between Ogishima and Teshima Islands.
This is Naoshima Island – currently the world's most famous art island.

Nothing symbolizes this more than artist Yayoi Kusama’s famous yellow “Pumpkin” exhibit.
Naoshima is dotted with numerous museums that combine art and architecture, including the Benesse House, Chichū, and Naoshima Art Museum built by architect Tadao Andō.
Art also merges with the locals’ neighborhoods via the “Art House Project” – old homes, temples and shrines are given new life, creating a wholly unique landscape.

However, art is not the only protagonist in Naoshima’s story.
Since antiquity, the land here has never been favorable to farmers.
Instead, the locals made their living through salt-making, fishing, and commerce.
This land birthed many seafarers; sometimes as boat guides, sometimes as navy officers.

Naoshima’s castle and town were built and serviced by a navy captain during the Warring States Period.
Known for his Christianity, he was a daimyō who shone in the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Afterwards, the island was brought into the shogunate fold, flourishing in the Edo Period via cargo hauling and puppet theater, becoming a major artery of the Inland Sea.

Even now, while Naoshima is mainly known for art, traces of its time as a marine commerce hub remain.
This land carries a long memory, accumulated over the ages to raise a whole new culture into full blossom.