ABSTRACT
The Mishima Maru, one of 6 ships of 8,000 tons built in 1908 for the European run, has recently been broken up, though 3 of her sisters the Kamo, Atsuta and Kitano now maintain the Australian service. The other two, the Hirano and Miyazaki, fell victims to German torpedoes during the Great War. These six vessels comprised, what I called in my Nomenclature of the N. Y.K. fleet, the original Jinja kyū, or shrine class, and better built, and more comfortable ships it would be hard to find. I have been fortunate in persuabing Mr. Saida Moriuji the present Gūji of Kamakura Hachiman Gū, who, as it will be seen subsequently, has original ideas about the deity of Mishima, to write the title for me. The character Shima may be written in 3 ways with the mountain on the top as Mr. Saida has written it, or at the side 嶋, or at the bottom 島. As a matter of fact all 3 forms are to be found in connection with Mishima Jinja, but the claim has been set forth that in old days it was written 鳥, the mountain being put on the top to show, veneration for Ōyamatsumi-no-Kami, deity of mountains!
