Ikinoshima

• • See also: List of Provinces

• • Co-ordinates: 33°47′N 129°43′E
  • Region: Kyushu
  • Prefecture: Nagasaki Prefecture

Ikinoshima

Creation

Ikinoshima (壱岐島, Onward Isle) was the fifth of the Great Land of Eightfold Isles to have been born by Izanami and Izanagi, inhabited by the kami Amehitotsubashira. It is a large island of the N.W coast of Kyushu. Its name derives from the work ‘Iki’ (to go) as it was a trading route between Yamato and the Korean Peninsula.¹ The main text of the nihongi says it was the eighth island to be born at the same time as Tsushima.²

Iki Province

The island of Iki was formed into Iki Province (壱岐国) after the Taika Reforms in AD645, and the establishment of the ritsuryō system.³

Heian Period

Harumichi no Tsuraki was given the post of Governor of this province, but died in 920AD before he could take the position.⁵

Fujiwara no Takaie (974-1044) was stationed in Dazaifu (Kyushu) and fought against the pirates on this island.⁴

Footnotes

1. Yasumaro. O, translated by Gustav Heldt. (2014) “Kojiki. An Account of Ancient Matters”. New York: Columbia University Press.
2. Aston. W.G. (1896) “Nihongi Volume 1: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to AD697″. Tuttle Publishing.
3. Kodansha. (1993) ”Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia”. Tokyo: Kodansha Ltd.
4. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.
5. MacMillan, P. (2018) ”One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse”. St. Ives: Penguin Classics.

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