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Tsushima Island
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Tsushima (??, Tsushima) are islands of the Japanese Archipelago situated in the middle of Korea Strait at 34°25'N and 129°20'E. It is the largest island of Nagasaki Prefecture. In the past, it was a separate provincial branch governed the island. In March 2004, all six towns on the island merged to form the city of Tsushima, which encompasses the entire island.
hima Island is located horizontally west of the Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu of the Japan's mainland.
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Encyclopedia
Tsushima (??, Tsushima) are islands of the Japanese Archipelago situated in the middle of Korea Strait at 34°25'N and 129°20'E. It is the largest island of Nagasaki Prefecture. In the past, it was a separate provincial branch governed the island. In March 2004, all six towns on the island merged to form the city of Tsushima, which encompasses the entire island.
Geography
Tsushima Island is located horizontally west of the Kanmon Strait between Honshu and Kyushu of the Japan's mainland. The Korea Strait splits at the Tsushima Island Archipelago into two channels; the wider channel, also closer to the mainland of Japan, is the Tsushima Strait. Ofunakoshi-Seto and Manzeki-Seto, the two canals built in 1671 and 1900 respectively, connect the deep indentation of the Aso Bay to the east side of the island. The archipelago comprises thirteen smaller islets in addition to the main island.
Tsushima is the closest Japanese territory to the Korean peninsula, lying approximately fifty kilometres from Busan; on a clear day, the hills and mountains of the Korean peninsula are visible from the higher elevations on the two northern mountains. The nearest Japanese port Iki, situated entirely in the Tsushima Basin, is also fifty kilometres away. The Tsushima Island and the Iki Island contain the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park, designated as a nature preserve and protected from further development. 89% of Tsushima is covered by natural vegetation and mountains.
The Japanese government administers the Tsushima Island as a single entity, although it consists of two separate main islands connected by the narrow isthmus outlined by the Aso Bay. The northern area is known as Kamino-shima, and the southern island as Shimono-shima. Both sub-islands have a pair of mountains: Shimo-no-shima has Mount Yatate, 649 metres (2,130 feet) high, and Ariake-yama, 558 metres (1,831 feet) high. Kami-no-shima has Mi-take, 487 metres (1,598 feet). The two main sections of the island are now joined by a combination bridge and causeway. The island has a total area of 696.26 square kilometres.
Climate
Tsushima has a marine subtropical climate strongly influenced by the monsoon winds. The average temperature is 15.5°C, and the average yearly precipitation is 2,132.6 millimetres. The highest temperature ever recorded on the island is 36.0°C, in 1966, and the lowest –8.6°C, in 1895. Mostly throughout the year, Tsushima is 1 ~ 2 °C cooler than the city of Nagasaki. The island's rainfall is generally larger than that of the main islands of Japan, which is attributed to the difference in their size. Because Tsushima is small and isolated, it is exposed on all sides to moist marine air, which releases precipitation as it ascends the island's steep slopes. Continental monsoon winds carry loess (yellow sand) from China in the spring and cool the island in the winter. The rainy season begins and ends later than other areas in Nagasaki Prefecture, and Tsushima rarely suffers direct hits by typhoons.
Economy
According to a 2000 census, 23.9% of the local population is employed in primary industries, while 19.7% and 56.4% of the population are employed in secondary and tertiary industries, respectively. Of these economic activities, fishing amounts to 82.6% of the primary industry, with much of it dedicated to catching squid on the eastern coast of the island.
The number of employees in the primary industries has been decreasing, while employee growth in the secondary and tertiary industries has increased. Tourism, targeting mainly South Koreans, has recently made a great contribution to the islands' economy.
Tsushima Airport serves the island.
Demographics and culture
The population of the Tsushima Island has been decreasing significantly, as evidenced by the 5.2% decrease between the years of 1995 and 2000. Nuclear families are replacing the traditional extended families, therefore, maintaining the number of households at a smaller population. The elderly population makes up for nearly a quarter of the population, much higher than 20.8% of the Nagasaki Prefecture and the national average of 17.3%. Religious traditions on Tsushima Island mirror those of the rest of Japan, with a majority of the population adhering to Buddhism or Shinto.
| Years | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2000 |
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| Total Population | 52,472 | 50,810 | 48,875 | 46,064 | 43,513 | 41,230 |
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| Age 0-14 | 14,449 | 12,845 | 11,615 | 10,050 | 8,352 | 6,834 |
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| Age 15-64 | 33,028 | 32,528 | 31,376 | 29,264 | 27,145 | 25,001 |
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| Age 65 & older | 4,995 | 5,437 | 5,884 | 6,735 | 8,016 | 9,395 |
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| Households | 14,760 | 15,176 | 15,232 | 15,164 | 15,169 | 15,038 |
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History
Early history
Japanese mythology states that Tsushima was one of the eight original islands created by the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami. Archeological evidence suggests that Tsushima was already inhabited by settlers from the Japanese archipelago and Korean peninsula from the Jomon period to the Kofun period. According to the Sanguo Zhi, a Chinese historical text, a thousand families in Tsushima founded the Tsuikai kingdom. It was one of the about 30 that composed the Yamataikoku union countries. These families exerted control over Iki Island, and established trading links with Yayoi Japan. Since Tsushima had almost no land to cultivate, islanders earned their living by fishing and trading.
Beginning in the early 6th century, Tsushima was a province of Japan, known as Tsushima Province (??? Tsushima-no-kuni or ?? Taishu).
Under the Ritsuryo system, Tsushima became a province of Japan. This province was politically and economically linked with Dazaifu, the central city of Kyushu, as well as the central government of Japan. Due to its strategic location, Tsushima played a major role in defending Japan against invasions from the Asian continent and developing trade lines with Baekje and Silla of Korea. After Baekje helped by Japan was defeated by Silla and Tang Dynasty forces at the Battle of Hakusukinoe in 663, border guards were sent to Tsushima, and Kaneda Castle was constructed on the island.
Tsushima Province was controlled by the Tsushima no Kuni no miyatsuko until the Heian Period, and then by the Ahiru clan until the middle of the 13th century. The role and title of "Governor of Tsushima" was exclusively held by the Shoni clan for generations. However, since the Shoni actually resided in Kyushu, it was the So clan, known subjects of the Shoni, who actually exerted control over these islands. The So clan governed Tsushima until the late 15th century.
Medieval history
Tsushima was an important trade center during this period. After the Toi invasion, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyushu, but halted during the Mongol invasions of Japan between 1274 and 1281. Koryosa, a historian of the Goryeo dynasty, mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops that included many Korean soldiers killed a great number of people on the islands.
Tsushima became one of the major bases of the Wokou, Japanese pirates, also called wako, along with the Iki and Matsuura. Due to repeated pirate raids, the Goryeos and their successors, the Joseons, at times placated the pirates by establishing trade agreements, as well as negotiating with the Muromachi shogunate and its deputy in Kyushu, and at times used force to neutralize the pirates. In 1389, General Park Wi of Goryeo attempted to clear the island of Wokou pirates, but uprisings in Korea forced him to return home.
On June 19, 1419, the recently-abdicated king Taejong of Joseon ordered his trusted general Yi Jong-mu to make an expedition to Tsushima and clear the island of the Wokou pirates, using a fleet of 227 vessels and 17,000 soldiers. but, Joseon Army soon retreat to homeland and return Tsushima to So clan, which was daimyo Clan of sengoku period Japan.
In 1510, Japanese traders initiated an uprising against Joseon's stricter policies on Japanese traders from Tsushima and Iki coming to Busan, Ulsan and Jinhae to trade. The So Clan supported the uprising, but it was soon crushed. The uprising was later came to be known as the "Three-Ports incident" (????, ????). Trade resumed under the direction of King Jungjong in 1512, but only under strictly limited terms, and only twenty-five ships were allowed to visit Joseon annually.
In the late 16th century, Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the various feudal lords (daimyo) under his command, planning to unite all factions with a common cause. Hideyoshi's coalition invaded Joseon Dynasty Korea, in an attack leading to the Seven-Year War. Tsushima was the main naval base for this invasion, and in continuing support of the war, large numbers of Korean laborers were transported to Tsushima until 1603.
After Japan's invasion attempts failed, peace was re-established between the two nations. Once again, the islands became a port for merchants. Both the Joseon Dynasty and the Tokugawa shogunate sent their trading representatives to Tsushima, governing trade until 1755.
Modern history
Because of the abolition of the han system, the Tsushima Fuchu domain became part of Izuhara Prefecture in 1871. In the same year, Izuhara Prefecture was merged with Imari Prefecture, which was renamed Saga Prefecture in 1872. Tsushima was transferred to Nagasaki Prefecture in 1872, and its districts of Kamiagata and Shimoagata were merged to form the modern Tsushima City. This change was part of widespread reforms within Japan, starting after 1854. Japan was at this time becoming a modern nation state and regional power, with widespread changes in government, industry, and education.
After the First Sino-Japanese War ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, Japan felt humiliated when the Triple Intervention of the three great powers of Germany, France, and Russia forced it to return the valuable Liaodong Peninsula to China under threat of force. Consequently, the Japanese leadership correctly anticipated that a war with Russia or another Western imperial power was eventually likely. Between 1895 and 1904, the Japanese navy blasted the Manzeki-Seto canal twenty-five meters wide and three meters deep, which was later expanded to forty meters wide and four and a half meters deep (), through a mountainous rocky isthmus of the island, between Aso Bay to the west and Tsushima Strait to the east, technically dividing the island into three islands (). Strategic concerns explain the scope and funding of the canal project by Japan during an era when it was still struggling to establish an industrial economy. The canal enabled the Japanese to move transports and warships quickly between their main naval bases in the Inland Sea (directly to the east), via the Kanmon and Tsushima Strait, into the Korea Strait, or to destinations beyond in the Yellow Sea.
During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the Russian Baltic fleet under Admiral Rozhdestvensky, after making an almost year-long trip to East Asia from the Baltic coast, was crushed by the Japanese under Admiral Togo Heihachiro at the Battle of Tsushima. The Japanese third squadron (cruisers) began shadowing the Russian fleet off the tip of the south island, and followed it through the Tsushima Strait where the main Japanese body waited. The battle began slightly east-northeast of the northern island around midday, and ended to its north a day later when the Japanese surrounded the Russian Fleet. The Battle of Tsushima remains history's only sea battle fought by modern battleship fleets. Few battles in history have been so decisive.
During the Korean War, when the Korean People's Army approached the coastal areas of South Korea near Pusan in August 1950, Tsushima acted as a refuge centre for many prominent South Koreans.
In the 1973 one of the transmitters for the OMEGA-navigation system was built on Tsushima. It was dismantled in 1998.
Today, Tsushima is part of the newly reorganized Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan. On March 1, 2004, the six towns on the island, including Izuhara, Mitsushima, Toyotama, Mine, Kami-agata, and Kami-tsushima, were merged to create Tsushima City.
Notable people from Tsushima
Further reading
- Ian Nish, A Short History of JAPAN, 1968, LoCCC# 68-16796, Fredrick A. Praeger, Inc., New York, 238 pp.
British Title and Publisher: The Story of Japan, 1968, Farber and Farber, Ltd.
- Edwin O Reischauer, Japan - The Story of a Nation, 1970, LoCCC# 77-10895 Afred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 345 pp. plus index.
Previously published as Japan Past and Present, 4 Editions, 1946–1964.
See also
External links
Japanese-based infosites
Korean-based infosites
Other infosites
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