, is an abandoned island in 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 total ...

, a sub-group of the

Satsunan Islands The is a geopolitical name for a group of islands that forms the northern part of the Ryukyu Islands. The whole island group belongs to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Major islands * Satsunan Islands ** Ōsumi Islands with: *** Tanegashima, Yak ...

belonging to

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The island has an area of 4.07 km² in area and was inhabited to 1970.

Geography

Gajajima is located west of

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 oth ...

. The island is volcanic in origin, although no volcanic activity has occurred in historic times and no comprehensive geological survey has been performed. The irregularly-shaped island has an area of approximately with a length of about and a width of . The coastline is surrounded by cliffs of up to 100 meters in height, making landing impossible except for one location in the south. The highest elevation on the island is above sea level. Its climate is classified as subtropical, with a rainy season from May through September.

History

Per local folklore, the island was one of the havens of the defeated Heike clan after they lost the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yori ...

against the

Minamoto was a noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility since 814."...the Minamoto (1192-1333)". ''Warrior Rule in Jap ...

clan. It came under the control of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

from 1434. In 1450, the island was invaded by the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

, and was the northernmost expansion of that country.Turnbull, Stephen. ''The Samurai Capture a King: Okinawa 1609''. Osprey Publishing, 2009. Pp 9. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, Takarajima was part of

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

and was administered as part of Kawabe District. In 1896, the island was transferred to the administrative control of

Ōshima District, Kagoshima is a district located in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. As of the March 20, 2006 merger but with 2003 population statistics, the district has an estimated population of 78,882 and a density of 84.4 persons per km2. The total area is 934.10 ...

, and from 1911 was part of the village of

Toshima, Kagoshima is a village consisting of the islands of the Tokara Islands located in the Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima District, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The village office is located in the city of Kagoshima, outside the village. As of 1 October 2020 ...

. A lighthouse was completed in 1940, and the population at that time was 133. The village had an elementary school, and its own ship for connection to the mainland and other islands. From 1946 to 1952, the island was administered by the United States as part of the Provisional Government of Northern Ryukyu Islands. A junior high school was built in 1948, power plant and water treatment plant in 1961 and telephone system in 1966. The population was economically supported by

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

for

bonito Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned, predatory fish in the family Scombridae, which it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...

. However, the island was repeatedly devastated by typhoons, especially in 1945, 1951, 1956, and 1957 leading to plans to relocate the population to either

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami Islands, Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa Prefecture, Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands, all of which belong to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 712.35 ...

or mainland

. Collapse of the bonito fisheries for unknown reasons financially ruined the islanders and led to near famine conditions, causing many islanders to leave. A decision was reached by the government to relocate the remaining seven households with a total of 28 people to Kagoshima in January 1970. At the time of the evacuation on 28 July 1970, only 4 households with 16 people were remaining. However, even after the evacuation of the inhabitants, the lighthouse remained staffed until April 1982. Although landing is not permitted to the general public, the abandoned buildings have been looted, and in 1996 the Japanese government discovered that a party of six Chinese had illegally landed on the island and were attempting to establish residence. Groups of former island residents have visited the island in 2001 and 2010 to take care of their ancestral graves.

References

*National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGIA). ''Prostar Sailing Directions 2005 Japan Enroute''. Prostar Publications (2005).

External links

Global Volcanism Program
{{Authority control Tokara Islands Uninhabited islands of Japan Former populated places in Japan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture

Geography

History

See also

References

External links