is an island in Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, 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...

. It has an area of 142.97 square kilometres (55.2 sq mi). The town of Okushiri

Okushiri, Hokkaido

is a town encompassing all of Okushiri Island, located in Okushiri District, Hiyama, Hokkaidō, Japan.As of 2008, the town has an estimated population of 3,442 and a density of 24.5 persons per km²...

 and Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park

Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park

is a prefectural natural park of Hokkaidō, Japan. The park encompasses over , including all of Okushiri Island and parts of the following towns of Hiyama Subprefecture:*Esashi*Kaminokuni*Otobe*TaiseiThe park also includes Kamome Island in Esashi....

 encompass the entire island.

History

It was the site of a powerful earthquake and tsunami

1993 Hokkaidō earthquake

The occurred at 13:17:12 UTC on in the Sea of Japan near the island of Hokkaido. It had a magnitude of 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum felt intensity of VIII on the Mercalli intensity scale. It triggered a major tsunami that caused deaths on Hokkaidō and in southeastern Russia,...

 in 1993.

The name Okushiri comes from the Ainu

Ainu language

Ainu is one of the Ainu languages, spoken by members of the Ainu ethnic group on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō....

 name Ikusyun-shiri. The phonetic word iku means other side and shiri means island. However, the Japanese meaning of the two kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

used for the name mean "wife's hips" or "wife's buttocks".