Tsushima Island

The Tsushima Island (対馬島, Tsushima-jima) is an island lying between the two channels of the Korea Strait (the Eastern Channel is also known as Tsushima Strait), between the Japanese island of Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula.

The Tsushima Island once made up the Tsushima Province, but today they are part of Nagasaki Prefecture of Japan.

Demographics and culture

The population of the islands is about 41,000.

Due to the So clan's long rule, Tsushima did not experienced a drastic social change in medieval and modern ages. The culture of Tsushima is considered to preserve medieval customs. Tsushima is especially known for uniqueness of Bon Odori,

Recently, Tsushima tries to utilize its geographic closeness with Korea for its survival. For example, it has held Arirang Festival since 1988 and Chingu Music Festival since 1996.

Geography

Tsushima is the third biggest island of Japan, with an area of 696.26 km² (as of 2003). It has a deep sound, the Aso Bay (浅茅湾) on the center of the island. The bay divids the island into two parts. The Northern part is called Kamino-shima (North Island) and the southern part Shimono-shima (South Island), also known as TBDL01 and TBDL02 respectively. Each of the parts features a pair of mountains; Shimono-shima, in the south, has Mount Yatachi (矢立山), 649 metres (2,130 feet) high, and Shira-dake, 512 metres (1,680 feet) high. Kamino-shima, to the north, has Ibeshi-yama,3 44 metres (1,128 feet) and Mi-take, 487 metres (1,598 feet).

There are two canals connecting Aso Bay to Tsushima Strait. Ohfunakoshi-Seto and Manzeki-seto are built in 1671 and 1900 respectively.

Thirteen smaller islets surrounding the the main island are considered part of the archipelago as well. Tsushima Island and Iki Island make up the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park.

The chief town, Izuhara, has been merged with other neighbouring towns to form Tsushima City. Tsushima is the closest Japanese territory to Korea, lying only fifty kilometres from Busan, and the hills and mountains of Korea are visible on a clear day from higher elevations on the two northern mountains. The nearest Japanese port, Iki, is also fifty kilometres away. (The map in the Iki Island article clearly shows the geographical relationship).

Climate

Tsushima experiences a subtropical climate, and the influence of monsoon winds is evident. While the winter is mild, temperatures during the summer season may rise above 30°C.

Economy

According to the 2000 census, 23.9% of the local population were employed in the primary industries, while 19.7% and 56.4% of the population were employed into secondary and teritary industries. Of these, Fishery amounted to 82.6% of the main industry, and much of it contributed to the catching of squids that were found on the eastern coast of the islands.

However, the number of employees in the primary industry has been decreasing, and that of the secondary and tertiary industries has been slowly increasing. Of late, tourism (mainly Koreans) has also largely contributed to the islands' economy.

History

Early history

Archeological evidence suggests that Tsushima was already inhabited by settlers from the Korean peninsula and Japan from the Jomon period to the Kofun period. According to the Sanguo Zhi, there were 1,000 families in Tsushima which founded the Tsuikai kingdom (対海国). They exerted control over Iki Island and maintained 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 Shinto deities of Izanagi and Izanami.

Since the early 6th century, Tsushima has been a province of Japan, named Tsushima province (対馬国) or Tsushu (対州). The Koreans rarely considered Tsushima as part of Korean territory before the Joseon Dynasty. The discovery of a book by American missionary Homer Hulbert has been taken by at least one modern Korean historian to show that the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla took Tsushima as a dependency, though it is not known whether actual control was exerted over the island.

Under the Ritsuryo system, Tsushima became a province of Japan. The Province of Tsushima was politically and economically linked with Dazaifu (central city of Kyushu) and the central government, and played a major role in the national defense against invasions from the continent and in trade with the Korean Peninsula due to its strategic ___location. After Japan was defeated by the Chinese of the T'ang Dynasty at the Battle of Hakusukinoe in 663, border guards were sent to Tsushima and the Kaneda Castle was constructed on the island.

Tsushima Province was controlled by the Tsushima-no-kuni-no-miyatsuko (対馬国造) clan until the Heian Period and then by the Ahiru clan until the middle of the 13th century. The title of "Governor of Tsushima" was held by the Shoni clan for generations. Since the Shoni stayed in Kyushu, their subjects, the So clan, exerted control over these islands, who governed Tsushima until the late 15th century.

Tsushima was an important trade center. After the Toi invasion, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyushu, but were halted by the Mongol Invasions of Japan between 1274 and 1281. However, the Mongols were halted from further aggression against Japan. Koryosa (a history of the Goryeo dynasty) mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops which included Korean soldiers who killed a great number of people on the island.

Tsushima became one of the major bases of Wokou (Japanese pirates, also called wako) along with Iki and Matsuura. Suffering from their invasions, Goryeo and its successor Joseon soothed them by giving them trade interests as well as negotiating with the Muromachi shogunate and its deputy on Kyushu. In 1389, general Park Hyun (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 with a fleet of 227 vessels and 17,000 soldiers, and Tsushima thus came into the sphere of influence of the Korean Joseon Dynasty.

Owing to the lack of food on the islands, in 1436, the local So clan requested King Sejong of Korea to give help to the local inhabitants. In response, the king formally colonised Tsushima, and made it part of Gyeongsang province, although Japan maintained claims to the island. However, under the agreement of the Kyehae treaty of 1443, the Koreans limited the amount of rice per ship and the trade to fifty ships per year. In turn, the Japanese traded sulphur, herbs, silver, copper, lead, chemicals, dyes, and aromatics for cotton, hemp cloth, ginseng, hides, embroidered cushions, porcelain, and books, especially Buddhist scriptures.[1]

Following this, Joseon, through the Kakitsu Treaty, gave the So clan its privileged position regarding trade with Korea. By the end of the 16th century, the So clan monopolized trade with Korea.

Recent history

In the late 16th century, as Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the various feudal lords (daimyo) under his control and looked to unite all factions with a common cause, he planned to invade Ming Dynasty China. This attack led to the Seven-Year War, and Korean labourers were transported in large numbers to Tsushima until 1603. In preparation for the war, Tsushima became the main naval base for this invasion.

After Japan's invasion attempts failed due to Ming China's support of Joseon, peace was re-established between the two nations and the island once again became a port for merchants. Both Joseon and the Tokugawa shogunate sent their trading representatives to Tsushima to govern trade until 1755. During the Edo period, Japanese rule was slowly re-established as Joseon had no intention of colonizing the island, following its policy of leaving islands uninhabited. However, the Joseon government did not recognise this claim, and continued printing official maps with Tsushima as part of its own territory until 1860. [2] In the late 19th century, the Meiji government of Japan officially incorporated the island.

As a result 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 into 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 was part of widespread reforms within Japan starting after 1854 which was pulling itself up by it's bootstraps into a modern nation state and regional power with widespread changes of government, industry, education, et al.

Between 1895 and 1904, the Japanese navy blasted a ship channel (between one or two kilometers wide), through an isthmus of the single island between Aso Bay from the west, and Tsushima Strait on the east, permanently dividing the island into two islands. These have since been named Kamino-shima and Shimono-shima. They have ever since been able to rapidly move warships between the main Naval bases about the Inland Sea and the Korea Strait or beyond to destination about the Yellow Sea, their tactical purpose for the project. Strategically, Japan had been humilated by the Triple Intervention after the First Sino-Japanese War ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the statesmen foresaw a war with Russia was likey and explains the scope and funding of the project.

During the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the Russian Baltic fleet under Admiral Rozhdestvensky, which made a nearly 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 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 took place slightly eastward of due north from the northern island.

After World War II, there arose a movement in South Korea to claim Tsushima, citing its historical relations to the various kingdoms of Korea. Subsequent investigations historical and governmental, have shown no basis for this claim as the Islands have historical references dating back to the 240s AD showing them in Japans control.

Today, Tsushima is part of Nagasaki prefecture of Japan. On March 1 2004, the six towns on the island, including Izuhara, were unified to create Tsushima city.

Territorial claims

In a New Year press conference in 1949, President Syngman Rhee formally requested that Japan return the island to Korean rule. However, this claim was never seriously considered by the military government of General Douglas MacArthur. With the outbreak of the Korean War the next year, and the economic struggles that South Korea faced in the following decade, talk of any territorial dispute disappeared.

Provoked by the Shimane Prefecture's claim to Liancourt Rocks, the Masan city of Korea declared June 19 as "Daema-do day" on 18 March 2005, claiming Tsushima to be part of South Gyeongsang province in South Korea, but this was rejected by the Korean government. [3] However, the Masan council replied that it would not retract its claim, stating that Tsushima was never formally handed to Japan. This proclamation stirred up some public support for the idea of Tsushima as Korean territory, to the point that the Korean government had to advise the council to formally retract the claim. So far, the Japanese government has not made any official comments on this.

People from Tsushima

Tsuyoshi Shinjo - Baseball player
MISIA - Japanese singer

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