Oki Islands

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Oki Islands

Oki Islands (隠岐諸島, Oki-shotō^?, or 隠岐群島 Oki-guntō) are a group of islands in the southwestern part of the Sea of Japan and belong to Japan.

[edit] Geography

The Oki Islands are situated between 40 to 80 kilometer north off the coast of Honshū.

The islands are of vulcanic origin and have a total area of 346,1 km². The group consists of 16 islands and the highest elevation is Mount Damanji-San at about 608 meters (1) on Dōgo.

The largest and inhabited islands are:

Dōgo (島後), main island, about 243 km², northeast off the subgroup of the so called Dōuzen Islands (2) with
Chiburi-shima (知夫里島), about 14 km²
Nakano-shima (中ノ島), about 33 km²
Nishino-shima (西ノ島), about 56 km²

The population is about 24.500 inhabitants spread over the 4 administrative areas of:

Okinoshima-chō (Okinoshima-town), includes all of Dōgo Island and close by islets as Okina-shima, Obana-shima, Tsuname-shima, Shijiki-jima and Ombe-shima, population about 17.000, Japan considers the disputed Liancourt Rocks to be a part of Okinoshima.
Chibu-mura (Chibu-village), includes all of Chiburi-shima and close by islets as Okaga-shima, Shimazu-jima, Asa-shima and Kami-shima, population about 800.
Ama-chō (Ama-town), includes all of Nakano-shima and close by islets as Omori-jima and Matsu-shima, population about 2.600.
Nishinoshima-chō (Nishinoshima-town), includes all of Nishino-shima and close by islets as Hoshikami-jima, Futamata-jima and O-kazuro-shima, population about 3.900 (3).

The islands make up the "Oki-shichō" (Oki District) and are part of the Shimane Prefecture. The island group is also part of the "Daisen Oki Kokuritsu Kōen" (Daisen-Oki National Park) (4).

The airport Oki Kūkō (Oki Airport, airport code "OKI") lies on the southeastern part of Dōgo (5) and provides air service to Osaka International Airport ("Itami", "ITM") and Izumo Airport ("IZO")., the islands can also be reached by ferries from harbours like Sakaiminato, Shichirui and Kaga on the mainland (6).

[edit] History

It is uncertain as to when the islands were discovered, they are however already mentioned in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki (7).

Already under the Nara period the islands were used as an exile for persons from the mainland (8).

From the Kamakura period the islands were administrated as "Oki no kuni" (Oki Province) and primarily governed by the shugo (governor) from Izumo Province.

In 1198 Emperor Go-Toba (tennō) was sent to exile to Dōgo where he stayed until his death in 1239. Between 1331 and 1333 tennō Go-Daigo was exiled to Nishino-shima (9).

From the Muromachi period the islands were ruled successively by the Sasaki clan, the Yamana clan and the Kyogoku clan until the Amago clan to the Sengoku period.

Under the Edo period the Tokugawa family took control over the islands and they were put under the direct control of the Shogun through a governor. During that time the islands were a stopover point for trading boats travelling to and from Asia (10).

After the Meiji Restoration which introduced a succession of reforms to restructure the Japanese state, the islands first became part of the Tottori Prefecture in 1871 and were transferred to the Shimane Prefecture in 1881 (11).

On October 1, 2004, the town of Saigō and the villages of Fuse, Goka and Tsuma were administratively merged into the town of Okinoshima even though the townships still exist as separate towns.