| Kurushima | |
| Pushpin Map: | Japan Ehime Prefecture#Japan |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Native Name: | 来島 |
| Native Name Link: | Japanese language |
| Location: | Seto Inland Sea, Japan |
| Coordinates: | 34.1177°N 132.9693°W |
| Archipelago: | Japanese Archipelago |
| Coastline Km: | 1 |
| Area Km2: | 0.04 |
| Elevation M: | 45 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | [1] |
| Country: | Japan |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Prefecture |
| Country Admin Divisions: | Ehime Prefecture |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | City |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | Imabari |
| Population: | 32 |
| Population As Of: | 2009 |
| Population Footnotes: | [2] |
is a Japanese island in the Inland Sea. Administratively, it forms part of the city of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.[3]
Kurushima is situated some off the coast of Shikoku's at the entrance to in Imabari.[3] [1] The island has a coastline of approximately and a surface area of .[3] It is a natural fortress with cliffs to the north shaped by the fast currents (some to) and rocks below; there is a settlement on the flatter land to the south, around a small bay.[3] [1] [2] To the east, the are spanned by the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge, while the island is protected as part of Setonaikai National Park.[4]
During the Sengoku period, the island was the base of the Kurushima Murakami, one of the three main houses of the Murakami kaizoku (the others the Noshima Murakami and Innoshima Murakami).[5] There are still remains of the walls of, an element of Japan Heritage "Story" #036,[6] as well as traces of residences and wells.[2] In the Edo period, together with nearby, the island was part of in Matsuyama Domain, with an assessment of twenty-six koku, three to, and nine shō.[1] Around the end of the Kyōhō era in the early eighteenth century there were some seventy-eight households, fifty-three of them of fishermen.[1] By Shōwa 53 (1978) this number had dropped to thirty-nine households, primarily making a living by commuting to the local shipyards and line fishing.[1] As of 2009, Kurushima had thirty-two residents.[2]