, literally "mouth island", is one of the

Tokara Islands The is an archipelago in the Nansei Islands, and are part of the Satsunan Islands, which is in turn part of the Ryukyu Archipelago. The chain consists of twelve small islands located between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. The islands have a tota ...

, belonging to

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto Pre ...

. The island, in area, and has a population of 140 persons. The island can only be reached by boat as it has no airport, there are regular ferry service to the city of Kagoshima on the mainland. Travel time is about 6 hours. The islanders are dependent mainly on agriculture, fishing and seasonal tourism. The island is home to the rare

Kuchinoshima , literally "mouth island", is one of the Tokara Islands, belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture. The island, in area, and has a population of 140 persons. The island can only be reached by boat as it has no airport, there are regular ferry service to ...

breed of Japanese native cattle.

Geography

Kuchinoshima is the northernmost inhabited island in the Tokara archipelago, and is located northeast from

Nakanoshima is a 3 km long and 50 hectares narrow sandbank in Kita-ku, Osaka city, Japan, that divides the Kyū-Yodo into the Tosabori and Dōjima rivers. Many governmental and commercial offices (including the city hall of Osaka), museums and other ...

. The highest elevation is located in the eastern part of the island, with a height of above sea level. Maedake, in the northern part of the island at , and in the western part of the island at , are the three volcanos which make up the island. Although there has been no eruption recorded in historical times, Moedake emits steam, and discoloration of the ocean in nearby waters in 2001 indicates ongoing volcanic activity. The local climate is classified as subtropical, with a rainy season from May through September.

History

The island was once part of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in th ...

. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, Kuchinoshima was part of

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of Kagoshima, ...

and was administered as part of Kawanabe District. In 1896, the island was transferred to the administrative control of Ōshima District, Kagoshima, and from 1911 was administered as part of the village of

Toshima is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the eight central wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Located in the northern area of Tokyo, Toshima is bordered by the wards of Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita in the north and Nakano, Shinjuku, ...

, Kagoshima. From 1946 to 1952, the island was administered by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

as part of the Provisional Government of Northern Ryukyu Islands. The island is home to a small and criticallyendangered population of

feral cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domestication, domesticated, Cloven hoof, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referr ...

, the

(Kuchinoshima-Ushi) breed, which – with the Mishima breed – is one of two remaining breeds of Japanese native cattle. Kuchinoshima cattle is not the only feral cattle in Japan as there is a small group of feral cattle on Kazura Island next to Naru Island.葛島（野生化した和牛のいる島）
/ref>

References

*National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA). Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Japan En route. Prostar Publications (2005).

External links

Official home page
{{Authority control Tokara Islands Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture

Geography

History

See also

References

External links