Noshima

{{short description|Japanese island}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox islands

| name = Noshima

| image_name = Noshima Castle ruins.B.jpg

| image_caption = Noshima viewed form the northwest

| pushpin_map=Japan Ehime Prefecture#Japan

| pushpin_relief = 1

| native_name = 能島

| native_name_link = Japanese language

| nickname =

| location = Seto Inland Sea, Japan

| coordinates = {{coord|34.182833|N|133.080845|E|display=title,inline|format=dms|type:landmark_region:JP_scale:100000}}

| archipelago = Japanese Archipelago

| length_km =

| length_footnotes =

| width_km =

| coastline_km = 0.85

| coastline_footnotes = {{cite web |url=https://www.city.imabari.ehime.jp/kanko/spot/?a=192 |script-title=ja:能島 |trans-title=Noshima |language=Japanese |publisher=Imabari City |accessdate=21 August 2020}}

| area_km2 = 0.015

| area_footnotes =

| rank =

| highest_mount =

| elevation_m =

| elevation_footnotes =

| country = Japan

| country_admin_divisions_title = Prefecture

| country_admin_divisions = Ehime Prefecture

| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = City

| country_admin_divisions_1 = Imabari

| country_admin_divisions_title_2 =

| country_admin_divisions_2 =

| country_admin_divisions_title_3 =

| country_admin_divisions_3 =

| population = uninhabited

| population_as_of = 2019

| population_footnotes ={{cite encyclopedia | script-title=ja:能島 |trans-title=Noshima |language=Japanese |encyclopedia=Digital Daijisen Plus |year=2019 |publisher=Shōgakukan}}

| density_km2 =

}}

{{Nihongo|Noshima|能島}} is a small, uninhabited island within the Geiyo Islands of the Japanese Inland Sea. Administratively, it forms part of the city of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. In the late mediaeval period, the island was occupied by Noshima Castle and, together with the surrounding area, was the base of the Noshima Murakami, one of the three main houses of the Murakami kaizoku.{{cite journal |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/40539930 |title=Predators, Protectors, and Purveyors: Pirates and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan |author=Shapinsky, Peter D. |journal=Monumenta Nipponica |publisher=Sophia University |year=2009 |volume=64 |number=2 |pages=292, 301}}{{cite web |url=https://www.city.onomichi.hiroshima.jp/uploaded/life/32709_89236_misc.pdf |title=Japan Heritage: Murakami Kaizoku |publisher=Onomichi City |accessdate=21 August 2020}} In his Historia de Iapam, Luís Fróis described Noximadono (i.e., the lord of Noshima) as o mayor corsario de todo Japaõ, "the greatest corsair in all Japan".{{cite thesis |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0347550 |title=Cast in silver: the rise and demise of Kyushu corsairs in a unifying Japan, 1540–1640 |author=Petrucci, Maria Grazia |publisher=University of British Columbia |year=2017 |page=25}}{{cite book |title=Luis Frois, Historia de Japam |editor=Vicki, José |volume=4 |publisher=Biblioteca National de Lisboa |year=1976 |page=249}} The island castle, together with tiny Taizakijima immediately to the south, has been designated a National Historic Site,{{cite web |url=https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/401/2558 |script-title=ja:能島城跡 |trans-title=Noshima Castle Site |language=Japanese |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |accessdate=21 August 2020}} and is an element of Japan Heritage "Story" #036,{{cite web |url=https://japan-heritage.bunka.go.jp/en/stories/story036/index.html#ancTabArea |title=Story #036 Murakami Kaizoku |publisher=Agency for Cultural Affairs |accessdate=21 August 2020}} while Noshima is also afforded protection as a Class I Special Zone within Setonaikai National Park.{{cite web |url=http://www.env.go.jp/park/setonaikai/intro/index.html |script-title=ja:愛媛県地域（今治北）|trans-title=Setonaikai National Park: Ehime Region (Imabari City) |language=Japanese |publisher=Ministry of the Environment |accessdate=21 August 2020}} There is no scheduled service to the island, which may be approached by a vessel chartered from {{nihongo|Miyakubo Port|宮窪港}} on nearby Ōshima.

Series L506, U.S. Army Map Service, 1953 (NI 53-5 Hiroshima).jpg|1953 US AMS map showing Hiroshima Prefecture and, across the sea to the south, Imabari in Ehime Prefecture; Noshima is the small unmarked island towards the bottom right, between "Ō-shima" and "U-shima"

Series L775, U.S. Army Map Service, 1945 (Habu Sheet 4749-4).jpg|1945 US AMS map showing, near the bottom, "No Jima", between "Ō-shima" and "U-shima", and "Taisaki-Shima", immediately to the south

Noshima Murakami flag pass (Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives).jpg|Noshima Murakami "flag pass", issued to a priest at Itsukushima in Aki Province and dated to Tenshō 9.4.28 (1581), followed by the signature Takeyoshi (Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives)