Tsushima

• See also: List of Provinces

• Co-ordinates: 34°25′N 129°20′E
• Region: Kyushu
• Prefecture: Nagasaki Prefecture

Tsushima

Creation

Tsushima (Port Isle, 対馬) was the sixth of the Great Land of Eightfold Isles to have been born by Izanami and Izanagi, inhabited by the kami Amenosadeyorihime. It acted as an important harbour between Kyushu and Korea. The Wei Account describes it as a rugged and heavily forested island, the people here relying on the sea for their livelihood.¹

The main text of the Nihongi says it was the eighth island to be born, at the same time as Ikinoshima.² The kami known as Takehiratori is said to be the ancestor of the Royal Representatives here.¹

Tsushima Province

The island of was formed into a Province (対馬国) after the Taika Reforms in AD645, and the establishment of the ritsuryō system.³

Heian Period

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.

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