Tsushima Island

Tsushima Island (対馬 Tsushima) is an island situated wholly in the Tsushima Strait, lying at 34°00'N and 129°00'E. It is part of Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan and is its largest island. In the past, the island was once governmentally organized as Tsushima Province. All six of the towns on the island were administratively merged in March 2004 to form 'Tsushima City', which encompasses the area of the entire island.

Geography

Tsushima Island is located wholly in the Tsushima Strait, east and southeast of the Korean Peninsula and between the Japanese mainland due west of the Kanmon Strait which divides Honshū from Kyūshū, and which also connects the Korea Strait to the Inland Sea. The Korea Strait is thus split by the Tsushima Island Archipelago into two channels, with the slightly wider eastern channel also being known as the Tsushima Strait. Through the island, there are two canals connecting the deep indentation of Aso Bay to the west with the Tsushima Strait: these are known as Ōfunakoshi-Seto and Manzeki-Seto, built in 1671 and 1900 respectively. Thirteen smaller islets surrounding the main island are considered part of the archipelago as well. Tsushima Island and Iki Island make up the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park which has been set aside as a nature preserve and brake on overdevelopment.

Due to its heritage as a single island, Tsushima is considered a single island by the Japanese government, although it consists of two main separate islands, with a total area of 696.26 square kilometres. Aso Bay (浅茅湾) is a deep sound in the center of Tsushima, which nearly divides the land of the island into two parts connected by a narrow isthmus. The northern area is known as Kamino-shima, and the southern island as Shimono-shima. Both sub-islands have a pair of mountains: Shimono-shima has Mount Yatachi (矢立山), 649 metres (2,130 feet) high, and Shira-dake, 512 metres (1,680 feet) high. Kamino-shima has Ibeshi-yama, 344 metres (1,128 feet) and Mi-take, 487 metres (1,598 feet). The two main sections of the island are now joined by a combination bridge and causeway (aerial view and water level view).

Tsushima is the closest Japanese territory to Korea, lying only fifty kilometres from Busan; on a clear day, the hills and mountains of Korea are visible from higher elevations on the two northern mountains. The nearest Japanese port, Iki, is also fifty kilometres away located on Iki Island which lies wholly in the Tsushima Strait. The map in either the Iki Island or Tsushima Strait articles shows the geographical relationship. As of 2006, 89% of Tsushima is still covered by natural vegetation and mountains.[1]

Climate

Tsushima has a marine subtropical climate, which is strongly influenced by monsoon winds. The average temperature is 15.5°C, and average yearly precipitation is 2,133 millimetres. The highest recorded temperature was 36.0°C, in 1966, and the lowest recorded temperature is –8.6°C, recorded in 1895. Tsushima is generally one to two degrees Celsius cooler than Nagasaki throughout the year. Its precipitation is generally higher than at locations on 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.[2]

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, fishing amounts to 82.6% of the primary industry, with much of it dedicated to catching squid on the eastern coast of the island.

However, 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 Koreans, has recently made a great contribution to the islands' economy.

Demographics and culture

The population of the islands is about 41,000 Japanese. Religious traditions on Tsushima Island mirror those of the rest of Japan, with a majority of the population adhering to Buddhism or Shinto.

History

Early history

Archeological evidence suggests that Tsushima was already inhabited by settlers from the Korean peninsula and Japanese archipelago 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 (対海国).[3] 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. Japanese mythology states that Tsushima was one of the eight original islands created by the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami.

Beginning in the early 6th century, Tsushima was a province of Japan, known as Tsushima Province (対馬国 Tsushima-no-kuni or 対州 Taishū). Before the rise of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, the Koreans periodically considered Tsushima to be Korean territory.[4] Some Korean think that after the dynasty came to power, Korea began colonization of the islands but this is incorrect. Korean never colonized Tushima. Some Korean believe fanatically that the ancient Korean kingdom of siragi took Tsushima as a dependency, though it is not known whether actual control was exerted over the island. The discovery of ONLY one book written by American missionary Homer Hulbert mentioning Siragi's temporary occupation of Tsushima island has been used as proof for this claim by at least one modern Korean historian, Lee Hyun-bok.

Under the Ritsuryo system, Tsushima became a province of Japan. This province was politically and economically linked with Dazaifu, the central city of Kyūshū, 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 kudara and siragi of Korea. After Japan was defeated by the Chinese, at that time ruled by the Táng Dynasty, 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 (対馬国造) 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 Kyūshū, 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.

Tsushima was an important trade center during this period. After the Toi invasion, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyūshū, 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. However, the Mongols were prevented from further aggression against Japan

Tsushima became one of the major bases of the Wokou, Japanese pirates, also called wakō, along with the Iki and Matsuura. Suffering from repeated invasions, the Goryeos and their successors, the Joseons, placated the pirates by establishing trade agreements, as well as negotiating with the Muromachi shogunate and its deputy in Kyūshū. In 1389, General Park Wi (朴威) 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 clear the island of the Wokou pirates, using a fleet of 227 vessels and 17,000 soldiers.

In 1510, Japanese traders initiated an uprising against Joseon's stricter policies on Japanese traders from Tsushima and Iki coming to Pusan, 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" (三浦の乱). 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. [5]

In the late 16th century, Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the various feudal lords (daimyō) under his command, planning to unite all factions with a common cause. Hideyoshi's coalition invaded Yi 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. During the Edo period, Japanese rule was slowly re-established, as the Joseon Dynasty did not intend to colonize the island with its own people, following its policy of leaving islands uninhabited. However, the Joseon government did not recognize the Japanese claim to Tsushima, and continued printing official maps with Tsushima as part of its own territory until 1860.[6] In the late 19th century, the Meiji government officially incorporated the island under Japanese rule.

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 (上県) and Shimoagata (下県) 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.

Twentieth century

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 (Nagasaki prefectural website), 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 (topographical map). 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 straits, 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. 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. [7]

In the 60ies one of the transmitters for the OMEGA-navigation system was built on Tsushima.

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.

Sovereignty claims by South Korea

After World War II, a movement to invade Tsushima arose in South Korea, citing its historical relations to the various kingdoms of Korea.[8] In 1948, the office of the Political Advisor of SCAP receives a document, the subject being a "Request for Arrangement of Lands Between Korea and Japan" from the "Patriotic Old Men's Association" of Seoul, Korea. The petition was an attempt at explaining Korea's sovereignty over Ulleung-do, Dokdo (Takeshima), and Tsushima Island. Although supposedly from a private organization, the petition followed ROK President Syngman Rhee's thinking regarding disputes with Japan. [9](See also Rusk documents)

In a New Year's press conference in 1949, South Korean President Syngman Rhee formally requested that Japan cede the island to Korean rule. However, this claim was never seriously considered by the military government of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers under General Douglas MacArthur. Subsequent investigations, both historical and governmental, have shown the difficulty of assessing this claim, as the islands have historical references dating back to the 240s AD showing them in mixed control. With the outbreak of the Korean War the next year, and the economic struggles that South Korea faced in the following decade, South Korea's government ceased to assert territorial claims.

Later, in the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty, it was declared that the sovereignty of Tsushima was to be handed to Japan. However, despite the fact that the Peace Treaty was signed in 1951, South Korean President Syngman Rhee later declared that Tsushima was part of South Korea in the illegal Peace Linedeclaration of January 18, 1952.[10] China, supportive of South Korea's claim at that time, claimed the San Francisco Peace Treaty as illegal as it was not invited as a signatory.^{[citation needed]} However, the ownership dispute is far from over, especially among ultra-nationalist South Korean groups, but the economic relationship between Japan and South Korea has curtailed much of the rhetoric.

Provoked by Shimane Prefecture's claim to Dokdo (also known as Takeshima by the Japanese), the Korean city of Masan declared June 19 "Daemado day" on March 18, 2005, claiming Tsushima — Daemado (Hangul: 대마도; Hanja: 對馬島) in Korean — as part of South Gyeongsang province in South Korea, but this was rejected by the Korean government. [11] However, the Masan council replied that it would not retract its claim, stating that Tsushima was never formally ceded to Japan. This declaration stirred up few public support for the idea of Tsushima as Korean territory, to the point that the South Korean government had to advise the council to formally retract its claim. The Japanese government did not make any official responses to the city council's claim ,because its claim was very stupid.　However, many Japanese feel that Korean is childish, passion-like people and hard to go together. The Parliament in Tsushima did a strong protest to the Parliament of Masan on October 6, 2006. Tsushima demanded the withdrawal of the ordinance from South Korea. However, the chairman of Masan answered that a Japanese opinion is a worthless opinion.[12]

Famous people from Tsushima

Tsuyoshi Shinjo - Baseball player
MISIA - Japanese singer

External links and references

Japanese-based infosites

Korean-based infosites

Other infosites

News

34°25′N 129°20′E / 34.417°N 129.333°E / 34.417; 129.333