Look around you. See the tightly packed round stones. All of them are perfectly round. Not an edge in sight.

They are arranged hexagonally, with six stones surrounding a central one. Long paths are lined with these stone walls here in the village of Ōsato. They are one of Hachijō Island’s crown jewels.

But, think about it: If they quarried the mountains, they could have had as much rock as they wanted. Despite that, these round stones were transported here from the coast. Why go to such lengths?

Yokomagaura has the answer, about one kilometer away from here. These stones cover the shoreline, battered by the waves over long years and smoothing out their edges.

It’s said that islanders and exiles carried these stones all the way here.

Over 1,800 people were banished to this island during the Edo Period. From defeated military commanders to scholars mired in political strife and Edo city criminals, their lives, circumstances, and sins, were varied.
All alone and far from home, many of them struggled for scraps. It’s said that carrying a single stone from the beach earned those exiles a single rice ball.

This stone wall was ostensibly built from those very stones. Each one hauled from the beach, for a single rice ball.

Each one was brought here from the beach by someone. Here then is the record of an extraordinary amount of time.

Among the exiles to Hachijō Island was the samurai Ukita Hideie.

Highly trusted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, this military commander rose to a seat in his Council of Five Elders. However, after siding with the Western Army at the Battle of Sekigahara and losing, he became the first exile sent to Hachijō Island by the Shogunate. He was 34 years old.

Once a feudal lord of many retainers, Hideie began a new life on an island far from home. Although his wife Gōhime requested to go with him, she was denied. Despite that, her family, the Maeda Clan of Kaga, continued to support Hideie.

They sent 70 bales of white rice, money for living expenses, clothing, medicine and more every other year. The deliveries continued long after Hideie passed away, reportedly over 260 years, until the Ukita family was pardoned in 1869.

Hideie lived on this island for approximately 50 years, passing away at 84 years old. Yet his long lifetime suggests that the quality of life in Hachijō Island may have been better than what we imagine when we think of “exile.”

On this island there’s a song that has endured over time:

“From the sea it seemed like an isle of ogres. But when I arrived I found an isle of kindness.”
Among the exiles were people who eventually integrated into the island, passing on the knowledge they learned on the mainland – reading, writing, crafts, and more – to the locals.

Try touching the stone wall.

Feel the curves with your palms, polished by the waves.

Only the lives of famous exiles like Ukita Hideie were committed to record. Of the ones who actually carried and stacked these stones – their days, their thoughts – almost nothing remains… Nothing besides this wall.