, also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km² in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is divided into the city of Amami, the towns of Tatsugō, Setouchi, and the villages of Uken and Yamato in Kagoshima Prefecture. Much of the island is within the borders of the Amami Guntō National Park. In 2021, it was listed as part of the serial UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

of Amami-Ōshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, northern part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island.

History

It is uncertain when Amami Ōshima was first settled. Stone tools indicate settlement in the Japanese Paleolithic period, and other artifacts, including pottery, indicate a constant contact with Jōmon,

Yayoi The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

and Kofun period Japan. The island is mentioned in the ancient Japanese chronicle '' Nihon Shoki'' in an entry for the year 657 AD. During the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

and early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

it was a stopping place for envoys from Japan to the court of

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

China. Mother of pearl was an important export item to Japan. Until 1611, Amami Ōshima was 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 the ...

. The island was invaded by

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

from Shimazu clan in 1609 and its incorporation into the official holdings of that domain was recognized by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in 1624. Shimazu rule was harsh, with the inhabitants of the island reduced to serfdom and forced to raise

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

to meet high taxation, which often resulted in famine.

Saigō Takamori was a Japanese samurai and nobleman. He was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. Living during the late Edo and early Meiji periods, he later led the Satsum ...

was exiled to Amami Ōshima in 1859, staying for two years, and his house has been preserved as a memorial museum. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

Amami Ōshima was incorporated into

Ōsumi Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Kagoshima Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Ōsumi bordered on Hyūga and Satsuma Provinces. Osumi's ancient capital was near modern Kokubu. During the Sengoku ...

and later became part of Kagoshima Prefecture. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, along with the other Amami Islands, it was occupied by the United States until 1953, at which time it reverted to the control of Japan. Since February 1974, a area that includes portions of the island and surrounding sea was protected as the Amami Gunto Quasi-national Park. The area also has a large

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

forest. In December 2001 there was a naval battle called the Battle of Amami-Ōshima between an armed

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n spy craft and Japanese Coast Guard ships near Amami Ōshima. The spy craft violated the

Exclusive economic zone of Japan Japan has the eighth-largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world. The total area of Japan is about 37 km. Japan's EEZ area is vast and the territorial waters (including the Seto Inland Sea) and EEZ together is about 12 millio ...

. This was a six-hour confrontation that ended with the sinking of the North-Korean vessel. In 2017 the Amami Guntō National Park was established. It absorbed the former Amami Gunto Quasi-national Park and other land and sea areas in adjacent municipalities.

Geography

Amami Ōshima is the seventh-largest island in the

Japanese archipelago The Japanese archipelago (Japanese: 日本列島, ''Nihon rettō'') is a group of 6,852 islands that form the country of Japan, as well as the Russian island of Sakhalin. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East Chin ...

after the four main islands, Okinawa Island and

Sado Island is a city located on in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Since 2004, the city has comprised the entire island, although not all of its total area is urbanized. Sado is the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Ok ...

(excluding the disputed Kuril Islands). It is located approximately south of the southern tip of Kyūshū and north of

. The island is of volcanic origin, with Mount Yuwanda at above sea level at its highest peak. The coast of the island is surrounded by a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

, and the island may also have been home to some of the northernmost coral reefs in Japan during the last glacial period. It is surrounded by the East China Sea on the west and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

on the east. File:Amami_beach.jpg, Coastal area of Amami Ōshima File:View_of_Katetsu_cove_from_nearby_Manen-zaki.jpg, View of Katetsu cove from nearby Manen-zaki(Cape Manen) File:Mangrove_in_amami.JPG, Mangrove forest of the Amami Guntō National Park in Amami Ōshima File:Kinsakubaru_wildwood.jpg, Kinsakubaru wildwood in Amami Ōshima

Administration

(Amami)

Amami Ōshima belongs to Kagoshima prefecture. It consists of the following municipalities. * Amami * Tatsugo * Yamatomura * Usomura * Part of Setouchi-cho

Climate

The climate of Amami Ōshima is classified as a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa'') with very warm summers and mild winters. The rainy season lasts from May through September. The island is subject to frequent

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

Fauna

Amami Ōshima is home to several rare or endangered endemic animals, including the

Amami rabbit The Amami rabbit (''Pentalagus furnessi''; ), or , also known as the Ryukyu rabbit is a dark-furred rabbit which is only found in Amami Ōshima and Toku-no-Shima, two small islands between southern Kyūshū and Okinawa in Kagoshima Prefecture ...

and the Lidth's jay, both of which are now found only in Amami Ōshima and

Tokunoshima , also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrative ...

. The Amami rabbit is sometimes called a living fossil because it represents an ancient Asian lineage that has elsewhere disappeared. The island is also home to the

habu is a Ryukyuan and Japanese name referring to certain venomous snakes: * The following species are found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan: ** '' Protobothrops elegans'', a.k.a. the Sakishima habu, found in the southern Ryukyu Islands ** ''Protoboth ...

, a venomous snake that can be found throughout the Ryūkyū Islands.

Mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

s were introduced to kill the habu, but have become another problem, as an increase in the mongoose population has been linked to the decline of the Amami rabbit and other endemic species. Whale watching to see

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

s has become a featured attraction in winter in recent years.Oki K., 2014
Amami whale and dolphin association
retrieved on 28-05-2014 It is also notable that

North Pacific right whale The North Pacific right whale (''Eubalaena japonica'') is a very large, thickset baleen whale species that is extremely rare and endangered. The Northeast Pacific population, which summers in the southeastern Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, may ...

, the most endangered of all whale species, have repeatedly appeared around the island (there are five records of three sightings, a capture, and a stranding since 1901) and , Amami is the only location in East China Sea where this species has been confirmed in the past 110 years. It is also one of two locations in the world along with the

Bonin Islands The Bonin Islands, also known as the , are an archipelago of over 30 subtropical and tropical islands, some directly south of Tokyo, Japan and northwest of Guam. The name "Bonin Islands" comes from the Japanese word ''bunin'' (an archaic read ...

where constant appearance in winter has been confirmed since the 20th century. Discovery of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Seto strait made it the first confirmation in the nation. Other species include whales ( Bryde's, sperm), smaller whales or dolphins ( false killer, spinner, spotted), and so on. Before being wiped out, many large whales such as

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

and

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

were seasonal migrants. The island marks the northernmost limit of

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

distribution, with occasional sightings throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. Amami Oshima is the only place where a nesting of leatherback turtle has been seen in Japan.

Demographics

Amami Oshima had a population of 73,000 people in 2013. 44,561 people live in the city of Amami. The total area of Amami city is 308.15 km² with a population density of 145 persons per km².

Economy

The economy of Amami Ōshima is based on agriculture (

, rice and sweet potatoes),

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

, and the distillation of shōchū. The favorable climate allows for two rice crops a year. Seasonal tourism is also an important part of the economy. The traditional crafts include the production of high quality hand-crafted silk, which has, however, suffered from the abandonment of traditional Japanese clothing and competition from overseas.

Transportation

The port of Naze, located in the city of Amami is a major regional shipping and ferry hub.

Amami Airport is an airport located east northeast Amami, a city on Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km2 in are ...

, located at the northern end of the island, is connected to Tokyo, Osaka, Naha, Fukuoka and Kagoshima as well as local flights to the other

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest of ...

. There are bus routes and roads on the island.

Language

Two dialects of the Amami language are spoken in Amami Ōshima: the Northern Ōshima dialect and the Southern Ōshima dialect. These dialects are part of the

Ryukyuan languages The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. ...

group. According to '' Ethnologue'', there were about 10,000 speakers of the Northern Ōshima dialect and about 1,800 speakers of the Southern Ōshima dialect. These dialects are now spoken mostly by older residents of the island, while most of the younger generations are monolingual in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The Amami language, including the Ōshima dialects, is classified as

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. There is also a village sign language, named as Amami Oshima Sign Language, being used in the area.

Notable people from Amami Ōshima

* Kenji Midori – karateka *

Ikue Asazaki is a Japanese folk singer. She grew up on the Amami Islands (in Setouchi, Kagoshima) which are famous for spawning popular singers of shima-uta, Amami's traditional music genre. Her father influenced her early music strongly during her upbrin ...

– singer *

Chitose Hajime is a Japanese singer from Amami Ōshima. She sings in the shima-uta style particular to that region, with distinctive falsetto effects. History Early life Chitose Hajime began learning shamisen under her mother's encouragement from a young ...

– singer *

Kousuke Atari is a Japanese pop singer. He is a self-trained musician, and performs in the shimauta (island-song) style of his hometown. Discography Albums * 999.04.04Atari (アタリ) (Indies) * 000.07.30Kurudando (くるだんど) (Indies) * 002.06 ...

– singer * Minami Kizuki – singer * Rikki – singer * Rena Takeshita – fashion model * Domingos Chohachi Nakamura – Catholic missionary, who was born in Nagasaki and lived 26 years in Amami Oshima *

Daiamami Genki is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tatsugō, Kagoshima. After a successful amateur career, he turned professional in January 2016, making the top ''makuuchi'' division in November of the following year. His highest rank has been ' ...

– Sumo wrestler *

Meisei Chikara is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Setouchi, Kagoshima. He debuted in sumo wrestling in July 2011 and made his ''makuuchi'' debut in July 2018. His highest rank has been ''sekiwake''. He wrestles for Tatsunami stable. Unusually for ...

- Sumo wrestler * Reona - singer

References

*Eldridge, Mark. ''The Return of the Amami Islands: The Reversion Movement and U.S.–Japan Relations''. Levington Books (2004) *Hellyer. Robert. ''Defining Engagement: Japan and Global Contexts, 1640–1868''. Harvard University Press (2009) *Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Most Daring Raid of the Samurai''. Rosen Publishing Group (2011) *Ravina, Mark. ''The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori''.　Whiley (2011) *Yeo, Andrew. ''Activists, Alliances, and Anti-U.S. Base Protests''. Cambridge University Press. (2011)

External links

Visitors Guide
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amami Oshima Amami Islands Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture