Okigashima

• • Co-ordinates: 36°10′16.1″N 133°8′40.8″E
  • Region: Chūgoku Region
  • Prefecture: Shimane Prefecture

Okigashima

Okigashima (隠岐の島, Isles in the Offing/Oki Islands) is a small archipelago off the coast of Honshu.¹

According to the kojiki this island is the third of the Great Land of Eightfold Isles to have been born by Izanami and Izanagi, inhabited by the kami Amenooshikorowake.

The main text of the nihongi says it was the fourth island to be born at the same time as Sado Island.²

Land Pulling Myth

In the ‘Land Pulling Myth’ mentioned in the Izumo Fudoki an area called ‘Saki Country of the Northern Gate‘ (兆門佐伎之国) is mentioned and some believe it may refer to Naka Island (中ノ島) in this island chain.³

Yayoi Period

Evidence from the late Yayoi Period shows of an Izumo Alliance which branched east from Izumo Province to the Hokuriku Region and north to encompass the Oki Islands.³

Muromachi Period

Amago Tsunehisa conquered Oki Island and Izumo Province in 1486 during the Ōnin War.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. Carlqvist, A. (2010) “The Land Pulling Myth and Some Aspects of Historical Reality”. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 37, No.2, pp.185-222.
4. Louis Frederic, translated by Kathe Roth (2002) “Japan Encyclopedia”. London: Harvard University Press.

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