was a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

located in Shikama District,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. It actually is a group of 44 small islands (4 main inhabited ones and 40 smaller uninhabited ones) about 18 kilometers off the coast of

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km². The total area of the city is ...

and Akō. Ieshima is one of the big islands but the name ''Ieshima'' is also used to refer to the entire chain of Islands. On March 27, 2006, the towns Ieshima, Yumesaki (also from Shikama District), Yasutomi ( Shisō District), and Kōdera ( Kanzaki District) were merged into the expanded city of

and are no longer independent

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Main islands

*Ieshima (家島): 5.46 km², about 4,000 inhabitants *Bozejima (坊勢島): 1.87 km², about 4,000 inhabitants *Nishijima (西島): 6.59 km², about 100 inhabitants *Tangajima (男鹿島): 4.57 km², about 150 inhabitants Most of the population lives on Ieshima and Bozejima. Ieshima is divided into 2 "hamlets" called Miya and Maura. The two main industries of Ieshima are fishing and quarrying. Tangajima and Nishijima have been quarried for at least 400 years and supplied stones used in the building of Osaka Castle. The eastern part of Nishijima is maintained as a camping and recreation ground by Hyogo Prefecture. Ieshima is host to the annual Open Water Swim Competition which has been rapidly gaining fame as one of the most popular open water swim competitions in Japan. The race takes place between the islands of Tangajima and Ieshima.

Transport

Ieshima and Bozejima can be reached by a 35-minute boat ride from Himeji Port.

Climate

Gallery

Image:Bozeshima1.jpg, From front to back: Nishijima, Bozejima, Ieshima, Tangajima Image:Tangashima1.jpg, Tangajima quarry Image:BozeshimaHarbour.jpg, Bozejima harbour

References

External links

Official website
in Japanese
Website for Ieshima Nature Learning Center
in Japanese

Dissolved municipalities of Hyōgo Prefecture Archipelagoes of Japan Islands of Hyōgo Prefecture Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean {{Hyogo-geo-stub