Hahajima

Hahajima entered surviving Japanese accounts through a shipwreck in 1670. A vessel carrying oranges from Asakawa in Awa province drifted to the island. Its crew built a small boat and returned home, turning an accidental landfall into information that reached the authorities. Their experience placed this remote island within the practical dangers of Japanese coastal and offshore voyages.

In 1675 the shogunate ordered the Nagasaki captain Shimaya Ichizaemon to investigate the Ogasawara islands. His party prepared maps and charts and erected small shrines on both Chichijima and Hahajima. The survey created a documentary and ceremonial connection without establishing a permanent town on Hahajima. Much later, in 1830, settlers from Europe, America and the Pacific islands arrived at neighbouring Chichijima. Hahajima's earlier recorded history centred on castaways and official reconnaissance, with long ocean distances separating the islands from Japan's established settlements.