Amakusa Local Quiz Practice: Questions and Explanations

Correct answerAmakusa-Kamishima and Amakusa-Shimoshima

Amakusa City is centered on the two large islands of Amakusa-Kamishima and Amakusa-Shimoshima, but the wider archipelago counts well over 120 islands in total. The two main islands are linked to each other and to the Kyushu mainland by the five bridges of Amakusa Gokyo, and Amakusa-Shimoshima is also home to Amakusa Airport.

Source:天草とは

Correct answerAmakusa Gokyo (Five Bridges)

Amakusa Gokyo is the collective name for five bridges, Tenmon, Oyano, Naka-no-hashi, Maejima, and Matsushima, that link Misumi on the Kyushu mainland to Amakusa-Kamishima. The bridges opened in 1966 and are also nicknamed the Amakusa Pearl Line, after the pearl farming once thriving in the waters below.

Source:女子スタッフおすすめの旅 天草の橋

Correct answerMizoka-go

Amakusa Airlines' single aircraft is nicknamed Mizoka-go, meaning cute in the Amakusa dialect. The airline began flying between Amakusa and Fukuoka on March 23, 2000, and later upgraded to an ATR42-600, relaunched as the new Mizoka-go.

Source:会社案内

Correct answerAmakusa Champon

Amakusa Champon ranks alongside Nagasaki Champon and Obama Champon as one of Japan's three great champon noodle dishes. Its broth is made from the bones of Amakusa Daio, a branded local chicken, and it remains a soul-food dish beloved as home cooking across the region.

Source:天草ちゃんぽん (熊本県) - 日本三大ちゃんぽん

Correct answerAmakusa bankan

Amakusa bankan, also called Kawachi bankan, is the citrus fruit that defines Amakusa's summer. It originated as a chance natural hybrid of pomelo found in Kawachi, Kumamoto City, in 1935, and is grown across several regions under different local names, thriving in Amakusa's mild climate.

Source:田尻農園

Correct answerGintengai

The Hondo Central Shopping Street, known as Gintengai, is the only all-weather covered arcade shopping street on the islands of Amakusa. Its arcade roof was completed in the 1970s, and it has long anchored commerce and foot traffic in Hondo, Amakusa City's central district.

Source:本渡中央商店街

Correct answerUshibuka Haiya Festival

The Ushibuka Haiya Festival is held every April around Ushibuka Port and traces its roots to the Haiya-bushi song, once sung at banquets entertaining visiting sailors. It has a long history spanning many decades, and the song itself is considered the root of Haiya and okesa lineage folk songs found across Japan.

Source:第53回 牛深ハイヤ祭り (2025年度)

Correct answerOver 90%

Amakusa's dolphin watching tours run year-round with a sighting rate of over 90 percent. About 200 wild Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins live permanently in the waters off Tsuji-shima, making it one of the few places where boats can reliably approach dolphins in the wild.

Source:野生のイルカに出会える「天草イルカウォッチング」

Correct answerHidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

The Sakitsu settlement is registered as a World Heritage component asset of Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region. The settlement's landscape is valued for preserving the memory of a fishing community's life and faith during the era of Christian prohibition, and the church inside it remains in active use for worship today.

Source:世界文化遺産「天草の﨑津集落」

Correct answerCute

Mizoka in the Amakusa dialect means cute. The Amakusa dialect varies its sentence endings by district and is said to include more than 50,000 words in total.

Source:天草エアライン

Correct answerLargest in the prefecture

Amakusa City covers about 683 square kilometers, making it the largest municipality in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was formed in 2006 through the merger of two cities and eight towns, inheriting the combined footprint of all ten former municipalities.

Source:「熊本県」で面積が大きい街ランキングTOP30！ 1位は「天草市」

Correct answerMerger of 2 cities and 8 towns

Amakusa City was formed on March 27, 2006, through the merger of Hondo City, Ushibuka City, and other municipalities, ten in total, two cities and eight towns. The merger made it Kumamoto Prefecture's largest municipality by area and its third most populous.

Source:天草市

Correct answerTenmon Bridge

Bridge No. 1 of the Amakusa Gokyo is named Tenmon Bridge. It is the first bridge crossed from the Misumi side of the Kyushu mainland, has served as Amakusa's gateway since the crossing opened in 1966, and marks the starting point of the pearl-farming-themed Amakusa Pearl Line.

Source:天草五橋

Correct answerPearl farming once thrived in the area

Amakusa Gokyo is nicknamed the Amakusa Pearl Line because pearl farming once flourished in the archipelago's ria coastline, dating back to the Meiji era. Fewer farms operate today, but the bridges' nickname still preserves that history along the waters they cross.

Source:天草五橋

Correct answerKuchinotsu Port

The Shimatetsu Ferry connects Onike Port in Itsuwa, Amakusa City, with Kuchinotsu Port in Minamishimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, in about 30 minutes. The route offers a much shorter crossing between Amakusa and the Shimabara Peninsula than driving, serving both tourists and daily commuters.

Source:航路・乗り場案内

Correct answerAn envoy delegation from the Ryukyu Kingdom

Sakitsu's specialty Sugi Yokan is said to originate from an envoy delegation of the Ryukyu Kingdom, shipwrecked at Sakitsu, who taught the recipe to local residents in gratitude for being rescued. The sweet takes its name from the cedar boards traditionally used to set it.

Source:杉ようかん

Correct answerEarly Showa era

Amakusa Daio, a local Amakusa chicken breed, is said to have gone extinct in the early Showa era, before Kumamoto Prefecture began restoring it in 1992. It is an unusually large breed for a local chicken, prized for its long raising period and strong flavor.

Source:幻の地鶏肉【天草大王専門店】姫コッコ倶楽部 / 天草大王の歴史

Correct answerA library, a health center, and a community center

Amakusa City's complex Kokorasu integrates the functions of a library, a health center, and a community center under a wooden roof built with locally grown Amakusa timber. The Central Library occupies its second floor, and the whole complex spans about 5,452 square meters.

Source:天草市複合施設ここらす

Correct answerBanquets entertaining sailors calling at Ushibuka Port

Haiya-bushi originated as a song performed at banquets held to entertain sailors whose ships called at Ushibuka Port. Said to have originated in Ushibuka, it spread nationwide during the Edo period and is considered the root of regional Haiya-lineage folk songs, including okesa and jinku.

Source:牛深ハイヤ祭り保存会

Correct answer4 times a year

The Amakusa Shiro battle standard flag, designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1964, is shown as an original only four times a year, the first week of March, May, August, and November, at the Amakusa Christian Museum.

Source:天草四郎陣中旗 特別公開（8月1日～8月7日）

Correct answerNanban (Southern Barbarian/European) culture

The Amakusa dialect carries influences from Nagasaki and Nanban European culture, blending in a variety of borrowed words, alongside vocabulary that traces back to classical Japanese and the Kyoto dialect. Its sentence endings vary by district, and its vocabulary reportedly exceeds 50,000 words.

Source:天草方言と【京都方言】

Correct answerJapanese black beef and Akoya pearls

Popular hometown tax gifts from Amakusa City include Amakusa Kurogyu black beef, Akoya pearls, and the local chicken breed Amakusa Daio. All three are specialty products of Amakusa's sea and land, and the program also helps support the region's primary industries.

Source:熊本県天草市のふるさと納税 お礼の品ランキング

Correct answerAbout 200m

The Cretaceous Wall on Goshoura Island is a rock face about 200 meters tall, where Cretaceous-period strata are exposed in the open. Dinosaur fossils have also been found on the island, making it a popular site for observing strata and joining fossil-collecting experiences.

Source:太古の記憶を辿る、恐竜と化石の島【御所浦島】

Correct answer2018

The Sakitsu settlement was registered as a World Heritage site in 2018, as a component asset of Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region. The evaluation included Sakitsu Church within the settlement, preserving the memory of a fishing village's life and faith during the era of Christian prohibition.

Source:世界文化遺産「天草の﨑津集落」

Correct answerIt is floored with tatami mats

Sakitsu Church is unusual in Japan for having a tatami-mat floor inside. It creates a distinctive worship space where visitors kneel on tatami before the altar, echoing the fishing village's everyday life.

Source:カトリック﨑津教会（さきつきょうかい）

Correct answer1641

Suzuki Shigenari was appointed magistrate of Amakusa in 1641, after the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion was suppressed. He investigated actual production levels, lowered the assessed rice yield to match reality, and requested settlers from western daimyo to rebuild the war-ravaged region.

Source:鈴木重成

Correct answerOver 90%

Over 90 percent of the raw material used in Arita ware comes from Amakusa pottery stone. Low in iron and prized for its whiteness, the stone has long supplied kilns in Arita, Hasami, and beyond, and it remains highly valued and still actively mined today.

Source:原料

Correct answerTetsukawa Yosuke

Sakitsu Church was designed by Tetsukawa Yosuke, celebrated for his church architecture. A carpenter turned architect from Nagasaki Prefecture, he is credited with about 30 church buildings over his career, shaping the landscape of Christian heritage sites across the Amakusa and Nagasaki region.

Source:崎津天主堂のステンドグラスについて（建設年代とステンドグラス製作者について）知りたい。

Correct answer2016

In 2016, Amakusa Airlines upgraded its aircraft from the original Mizoka-go to an ATR42-600, relaunched as the new Mizoka-go. The plane's two engines even carry their own nicknames, Haru-chan and Kai-kun, adding to the affection locals hold for the aircraft.

Source:天草エアライン、2月20日デビューの「ATR 42-600」型機が本拠地の天草空港に初着陸

Correct answerFerry Amakusa II

The Shimatetsu Ferry operates two vessels, Ferry Kuchinotsu and Ferry Amakusa II, connecting Onike Port and Kuchinotsu Port in about 30 minutes. The route serves as a lifeline between Amakusa and the Shimabara Peninsula for both tourists and local residents.

Source:時刻表・運賃

Correct answerAbout 7kg

A male Amakusa Daio can reach up to 90cm in height and about 7kg in weight, making it an unusually large local chicken breed. It reaches an average of about 4kg after roughly 100 days of raising, and carries a history of extinction in the early Showa era followed by restoration since 1992.

Source:天草大王

Correct answerThick, chewy noodles influenced by the local dish dago-jiru

Amakusa Champon uses thick, chewy noodles influenced by the local dish dago-jiru, distinct from the noodles of its Nagasaki relatives. Its broth is made from Amakusa Daio chicken bones, and it is counted among Japan's three great champon dishes alongside Nagasaki and Obama champon.

Source:天草市のソウルフード「天草ちゃんぽん」全国どこでも愛される味に舌鼓

Correct answerAbout 98 million years old

The Trigonia sandstone fossil collection site on Goshoura yields fossils from strata roughly 98 million years old, dating to the mid-Cretaceous. The island also has a 200-meter rock face called the Cretaceous Wall, and is known as a fossil island where dinosaur remains have also been found.

Source:御所浦化石採集体験

Correct answerChuo-shincho (Hondo)

The Amakusa Takarajima International Exchange Hall Porto is located in Chuo-shincho, in the Hondo district, and houses a multipurpose hall, seminar rooms, and an exchange hall. Sitting in Amakusa's central urban area, it serves as a hub for international exchange and local events.

Source:天草宝島国際交流会館ポルトご利用案内

Correct answerChild-rearing and telework bonuses

Amakusa City's settlement incentive grant, paid out as Amakusa Takarajima gift vouchers, comes with several add-on bonuses beyond its base amount, including child-rearing and telework bonuses, plus a regional bonus for those moving outside the Hondo urban planning area.

Source:支援制度

Correct answer53rd

The 2025 edition of the Ushibuka Haiya Festival was its 53rd. Rooted in Haiya-bushi, a song once sung at banquets for visiting sailors, the festival traces back to a tune that spread nationwide during the Edo period and is considered the ancestor of regional Haiya-lineage folk songs like okesa.

Source:第53回 牛深ハイヤ祭り (2025年度)

Correct answerMizorashika

Mizoka, the Amakusa dialect word for cute, is said to be a slurred form of the older word mizorashika. It has become a symbol of the region, even lending its name to Amakusa Airlines' aircraft, and remains a widely loved piece of local dialect.

Source:Amakusa Dialect Collection

Correct answerBeing raised solely on Hokkaido-grown feed

To be labeled Amakusa Kurogyu, cattle must be born and raised in Amakusa, fed mainly on Amakusa-grown feed, and reach a meat quality grade of 3 or higher. The brand is managed by the Amakusa Livestock Agricultural Cooperative. There is no requirement that the cattle be raised solely on Hokkaido-grown feed, despite Hokkaido's reputation as a major dairy and beef-producing region.

Source:天草黒牛（あまくさくろうし）-熊本県のブランド牛-

Correct answerThe Sakitsu settlement / Sakitsu Church (a building within the settlement)

The World Heritage component asset is the Sakitsu settlement itself, and Sakitsu Church, standing within the settlement, is included as part of it. Oe Church, by contrast, is not a component asset, and the ruins of Hara Castle belong to a different prefecture, Nagasaki.

Source:世界文化遺産「天草の﨑津集落」

Correct answerAmakusa-Shimoshima → Amakusa-Kamishima → Oyano-jima → Goshourajima

Among the main islands of the Amakusa archipelago, Amakusa-Shimoshima ranks largest by area, followed by Amakusa-Kamishima, Oyano-jima, and Goshourajima. Alongside the two islands that form Amakusa City, Goshourajima, known for its dinosaur fossils, is also counted among the archipelago's key islands.

Source:天草諸島天草上島大矢野島離島振興：離島の概要（御所浦島）