Iki Island
Encyclopedia
Iki Island is an island lying between the island of Kyūshū
and the Tsushima islands in the Tsushima Strait
, the eastern channel of the Korea Strait
. It is currently part of Nagasaki Prefecture
of Japan
. The city of Iki
is the centre of the local government. The island has three ports.
The island’s residents gain their livlihood primarily from the sea. Until the mid-1970s, they were prosperous, owing to their proximity to highly a highly productive fishing area known as the Shichiriga Banks. Those waters were also on the migration route of vast pods of dolphins — bottlenose
, huge gray and white Risso’s, and jet-black false killer whales
.
and tobacco
are planted. There is also an onsen
(Japanese hot spring). Sea urchin
is a delicacy there, as is the local Shōchū
.
Together with the neighbouring islands of Tsushima, they are collectively known as the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park.
, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyūshū, but were halted by the Mongol Invasions of Japan
of 1274 and 1281. However, the Mongols were halted from further aggression against Japan. The Koryosa (history of the Goryeo dynasty) mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops, which included Korean soldiers, captured both Tsushima and Iki and killed a great number of islanders.
Iki became one of the major bases of Wokou
(Japanese pirates, also called wako) along with Tsushima and Matsuura.
Between the 1970s and 1980s, in particularly the town of Katsumoto, the islanders were notorious for the over-fishing of the local species of whales and dolphins. In view of the already endangered yellowtails, the local town government banned large-scale, commercial fishing of yellowtails after 1982.http://users.aber.ac.uk/rys3/mammals.htm
In 1977, the local fishermen invited television companies to film the mass slaughtering of dolphins. In response, activists heavily condemned the fishermen's acts of killing the dolphins.http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_031117_1.html
, a technique used by fishermen in other parts of Japan who hunt dolphins for food. When dolphins are sighted, the fishermen form their boats, each of them made of white fiberglass and roughly thirty feet in length, into a huge horseshoe on one side of the dolphin pod. They swing metal pipes into the water and bang on them with hammers and steel rods. The clanging from a hundred boats or more curling around the dolphin pod in a U-shape causes the dolphins, with their exquisitely sensitive hearing, to flee ahead of the painful sound. Maintaining communication through CB radios, the fishermen maneuver the horseshoe so as to drive the dolphins into a bay where they can be confined and killed by stabbing them with long spears.
In 1979 they rounded up hundreds of dolphins and slaughtered them on Tatsunoshima Island across the bay from Katsumoto Town. An aerial photograph of the event made its way into international syndication. In 1979 Hardy Jones
brought a film crew to Iki to film the fishermen and the slaughter. The result was a film entitled “Island at the Edge.” http://www.howardhall.com/stories/dexter.html
The following year Jones returned with cameraman Howard Hall and filmed the slaughter of hundreds of dolphins. The highly graphic footage, distributed through CBS News, along with still photographs, caused an avalanche of protest around the world.
Dolphin hunting largely ceased after 1980 partly because the massive protest caused serious embarrassment to Japan. But perhaps because dolphins stopped showing up in great numbers off Iki. The cause may be that the pods were seriously depleted by the drive fishery or because warming ocean temperatures caused dolphin prey species to move.
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
and the Tsushima islands in the Tsushima Strait
Tsushima Strait
is the eastern channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.The Tsushima Strait is the broader eastern channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island, with the Japanese islands of Honshū to the east and northeast, and...
, the eastern channel of the Korea Strait
Korea Strait
The Korea Strait is a sea passage between South Korea and Japan, connecting the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan in the northwest Pacific Ocean...
. It is currently part of Nagasaki Prefecture
Nagasaki Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. The capital is the city of Nagasaki.- History :Nagasaki Prefecture was created by merging of the western half of the former province of Hizen with the island provinces of Tsushima and Iki...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The city of Iki
Iki, Nagasaki
is a city located at Iki Island in Nagasaki, Japan. It is located approximately 80 kilometers northeast of Fukuoka on mainland Kyūshū. The city consists of five inhabited and 17 uninhabited islands, and its entire area is within the Iki-Tsushima Quasi-National Park...
is the centre of the local government. The island has three ports.
The island’s residents gain their livlihood primarily from the sea. Until the mid-1970s, they were prosperous, owing to their proximity to highly a highly productive fishing area known as the Shichiriga Banks. Those waters were also on the migration route of vast pods of dolphins — bottlenose
Bottlenose Dolphin
Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the common bottlenose dolphin and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin , instead of one...
, huge gray and white Risso’s, and jet-black false killer whales
False Killer Whale
The False Killer Whale is a cetacean, and the third largest member of the oceanic dolphin family . It lives in temperate and tropical waters throughout the world. As its name implies, the False Killer Whale shares characteristics, such as appearance, with the more widely known Orca...
.
Geography
The island hosts a population of 33,202 within the 138.45 km² island, measuring 17 km from the north–south direction and 14 km in the east–west direction. Agriculture is widely practiced by the local inhabitants, and crops including riceRice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
are planted. There is also an onsen
Onsen
An is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
(Japanese hot spring). Sea urchin
Sea urchin
Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
is a delicacy there, as is the local Shōchū
Shochu
is a Japanese distilled beverage. It is typically distilled from barley, sweet potatoes, or rice, though it is sometimes produced from other ingredients such as brown sugar, buckwheat or chestnut. Typically shōchū contains 25% alcohol by volume...
.
Together with the neighbouring islands of Tsushima, they are collectively known as the Iki–Tsushima Quasi-National Park.
History
After the Toi invasionToi invasion
The Toi invasion was the invasion of northern Kyūshū by Jurchen pirates in 1019. Toi meant barbarian in the Korean language at the time....
, private trade started between Goryeo, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyūshū, but were halted by the Mongol Invasions of Japan
Mongol invasions of Japan
The ' of 1274 and 1281 were major military efforts undertaken by Kublai Khan to conquer the Japanese islands after the submission of Goryeo to vassaldom. Despite their ultimate failure, the invasion attempts are of macrohistorical importance, because they set a limit on Mongol expansion, and rank...
of 1274 and 1281. However, the Mongols were halted from further aggression against Japan. The Koryosa (history of the Goryeo dynasty) mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops, which included Korean soldiers, captured both Tsushima and Iki and killed a great number of islanders.
Iki became one of the major bases of Wokou
Wokou
Wokou , which literally translates as "Japanese pirates" in English, were pirates of varying origins who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century onwards...
(Japanese pirates, also called wako) along with Tsushima and Matsuura.
Between the 1970s and 1980s, in particularly the town of Katsumoto, the islanders were notorious for the over-fishing of the local species of whales and dolphins. In view of the already endangered yellowtails, the local town government banned large-scale, commercial fishing of yellowtails after 1982.http://users.aber.ac.uk/rys3/mammals.htm
In 1977, the local fishermen invited television companies to film the mass slaughtering of dolphins. In response, activists heavily condemned the fishermen's acts of killing the dolphins.http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_031117_1.html
Extermination of Dolphins
During the 1970s the fishermen experienced a decline in their catch and they suspected dolphins were taking too many fish. The fishermen began shooting and harpooning dolphins, but though they killed a few, the effort was ineffectual. In 1977, they adopted the oi komi dolphin driveDolphin drive hunting
Dolphin drive hunting, also called dolphin drive fishing, is a method of hunting dolphins and occasionally other small cetaceans by driving them together with boats and then usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing off the route to the open sea or ocean with boats...
, a technique used by fishermen in other parts of Japan who hunt dolphins for food. When dolphins are sighted, the fishermen form their boats, each of them made of white fiberglass and roughly thirty feet in length, into a huge horseshoe on one side of the dolphin pod. They swing metal pipes into the water and bang on them with hammers and steel rods. The clanging from a hundred boats or more curling around the dolphin pod in a U-shape causes the dolphins, with their exquisitely sensitive hearing, to flee ahead of the painful sound. Maintaining communication through CB radios, the fishermen maneuver the horseshoe so as to drive the dolphins into a bay where they can be confined and killed by stabbing them with long spears.
In 1979 they rounded up hundreds of dolphins and slaughtered them on Tatsunoshima Island across the bay from Katsumoto Town. An aerial photograph of the event made its way into international syndication. In 1979 Hardy Jones
Hardy Jones
Hardy Jones is a wildlife and conservation filmmaker. He began his career in radio at WNOE in New Orleans and has worked for United Press International, The Peruvian Times, and CBS News. He has been a television documentary producer since 1978 and has produced over 75 films for PBS, Discovery, TBS,...
brought a film crew to Iki to film the fishermen and the slaughter. The result was a film entitled “Island at the Edge.” http://www.howardhall.com/stories/dexter.html
The following year Jones returned with cameraman Howard Hall and filmed the slaughter of hundreds of dolphins. The highly graphic footage, distributed through CBS News, along with still photographs, caused an avalanche of protest around the world.
Dolphin hunting largely ceased after 1980 partly because the massive protest caused serious embarrassment to Japan. But perhaps because dolphins stopped showing up in great numbers off Iki. The cause may be that the pods were seriously depleted by the drive fishery or because warming ocean temperatures caused dolphin prey species to move.