is a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

Japanese island in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"''Izu Shotō'',"
''Japan Encyclopedia,'' p. 412. The island is administered by Tōkyō Metropolis and is located approximately south of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and south-southeast of Miyake-shima. It is one of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago. Mikurashima is administratively part of Mikurashima Village under

Miyake Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The organization belongs to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau Of General Affairs. It includes the following villages on the Izu Islands: * Miyake (village on Miyakejima) *Mikurajima (villag ...

of Tokyo Metropolis. , the island's population was 351. Mikura-shima is also within the boundaries of the

Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park is a national park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It consists of Mount Fuji, Fuji Five Lakes, Hakone, the Izu Peninsula, and the Izu Islands. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park covers . Rather ...

History

The island has apparently been inhabited for thousands of years, but existing records only extend to the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. Mikura, along with the rest of the Izu Islands, was designated as a place of exile during the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, and up to 10% of current island residents are descendants of political exiles.Otake, Tomoko,
A place of refuge for exiles and foreign wayfarers
, ''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', 24 April 2011, p. 8; retrieved 2013-3-4. In 1714, an important official from the shogunate, physician Kochikuin Okuyama, arrived on the island. Okuyama was able to use his connections with the shogunate to retrieve Mikura's official seal from officials on Miyake Island, who were using it to skim profits from Mikura's exports of lumber. In 1863, a ship with a crew of 460 Chinese laborers and 23 American sailors, bound for the United States from China, was shipwrecked on the island. Although at that time the Japanese populace had been ordered by the shogunate to kill or imprison any foreigners who entered Japan without authorization, Mikura's inhabitants treated the shipwrecked crew with hospitality and kindness.

Geology

Mikura-shima is roughly circular, and is the peak of a dormant stratovolcano. It has a maximum diameter of and a circumference of , covering an area of 20.5 square kilometers. The highest peak, , has a height of , and was last active around 6000 years ago. As with most of the other islands in the Izu archipelago, Mikura-shima rises sharply from the sea with coastal cliffs up to 500 meters in height, and has a steep interior. The island's largest spring forms Shirataki (white falls) waterfall that drops 80m into the

below. The island has an underground mineral lake, which is said to have remarkable healing and cleansing powers and waters around the island has an abundance of nutrient-rich plant life.Otake, Tomoko,
Mikura: Tokyo's island of natural wonders
, ''

'', 24 April 2011, p. 7; retrieved 2013-3-4.

Environment

Unlike the other islands in the Izu group, Mikura-jima has preserved most of its

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

and endemic flora, such as the nioiebine orchid. The island has been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it hosts the largest breeding colony of

streaked shearwater The streaked shearwater (''Calonectris leucomelas'') is a species of seabird. The adult bird averages in length, with a wingspan. Description The streaked shearwater feeds mainly on fish and squid. It follows fishing boats, attracted to ancho ...

s (with some two million birds) in the world, as well as supporting populations of

Japanese wood pigeon The Japanese wood pigeon (''Columba janthina'') is a species of columbid bird. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. They are believed to be the largest representative of t ...

Japanese murrelet The Japanese murrelet or crested murrelet (''Synthliboramphus wumizusume'') is a small seabird in the auk family that occurs along the remote rocky coasts and in the offshore waters of Japan, and may also be found after the breeding season as far ...

Pleske's grasshopper warbler Styan's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes pleskei''), also known as Pleske's grasshopper warbler and Taczanowski's warbler, is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It breeds in eastern Siberia to Korea, Kyushu and Izu Isl ...

Ijima's leaf-warbler Ijima's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus ijimae'') (also known as Izu leaf warbler, Ijima's willow warbler or Ijima's warbler) is a species of Old World warbler in the family Phylloscopidae. The species is native to Japan, where it has been designate ...

s and

Izu thrush The Izu thrush or Izu Islands thrush (''Turdus celaenops'') is a bird of the thrush family native to Japan. Behavior Feeding Izu thrushes eat small animals, such as earthworms and insects, and fruits, like cherries or mullberries. Breeding Th ...

es.

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

s inhabit the surrounding waters.

Economy

Mikura-shima's main industry is tourism. The island is visited by about 10,000 people per year. The island's main attractions are its dolphin tours. The tours operate from March to October each year. To preserve the island's habitat, tourists are prohibited from hiking without an island guide, and must stay in one of the island's designated inns, as camping is not allowed.

Dolphin watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...

tours during the summer months have been offered from

Miyake-jima is an inhabited volcanic island in the Izu archipelago in the Philippine Sea approximately southeast of Tokyo, Japan. As with the other islands in the Izu Island group, Miyake-jima forms part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Etymology ...

. The crossing from Miyake to Mikura takes about 45 minutes by fishing vessel. There are also tours from Mikura-shima. Other money-makers for the island's inhabitants include exports of ashitaba, ''

Calanthe ''Calanthe'', commonly known as Christmas orchids, is a genus of about 220 species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. They are evergreen or deciduous terrestrial plants with thick roots, small oval pseudobulbs, large corrugated leaves and upr ...

'' orchids, and Japanese boxwood. Mikura-jima's boxwood is highly prized in the making of top quality

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...

tiles.

Notes

References

* ''Teikoku's Complete Atlas of Japan'', Teikoku-Shoin Co., Ltd. Tokyo 1990, * ''Atlas of Japan'' - Saishin-Nihon-chizu 1990, Imidas Shueisha

External links

* *
Japan Volcanoes Database
{{Authority control Izu Islands Dormant volcanoes Islands of Tokyo Important Bird Areas of the Nanpo Islands Seabird colonies Stratovolcanoes of Japan Holocene stratovolcanoes it:Mikurajima