Komen-cho, An-ei Lava

From here, the area has been Kagoshima City since before the merger in 2004. “Sakurajima” is no longer attached to the address from here on out. On the junction near the “Komen”《高免》 bus stop and the Komen branch of the Fire Department, if you turn left and go down the slope, you will find Komen Elementary School, which is closed. It closed in 1993, when there were only two students attending. It is a very small school, but the school building is still there, and there is a stopped clock hanging in the front. Frankly speaking, it is scary.

 

After passing Sakurajima-Shirahama-cho, the road leaves the coast and becomes very undulating. That is as it should be. From here, you will enter the An-ei Lava field. An-ei Lava is made from the magma that flowed out of Sakurajima during the An-ei Great Eruption that occurred in October 1779. The lava flowed from the northeastern flank of Kitadake and the southern flank of Minamidake. In fact, no lava has ever flowed from the summit of Sakurajima during an eruption since the beginning of time. There have been four accurately documented major eruptions with lava outpourings on Sakurajima, the An-ei Great Eruption being the second oldest. Almost the entire eastern part of Sakurajima, the Komen and Kurokami areas, is covered with lava from at least one of these four major eruptions. The population of these areas is particularly small, largely because the topography of the area made it difficult to develop.