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 plat ...

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

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

. It is one of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago. The island is the smaller inhabited component of the village of

Niijima is a volcanic Japanese island administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It is one of the Izu Seven Islands group of the seven northern islands of the Izu archipelago, and is located approximately south of Tōkyō and south of S ...

, which also contains the larger, neighboring island of

and the smaller, uninhabited Jinai-tō. It is part of the Ōshima Subprefecture of Tokyo Metropolis. , the island's population was 600. Shikinejima is also within the boundaries of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.

Geology

Shikine-jima has an irregular and highly indented coastline with many small bays. The interior of the island is of low elevation, rising to 99 m above sea level at and to , near , the highest elevation on the island. Shikinejima is approximately 3 km long by 2.5 km wide. Signs of geothermal activity can be found along the southern coast where hot springs occur. The legend that Niijima and Shikinejima were formerly one island, and were separated by a giant

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

during the 1703 Genroku earthquake has no basis in geology.

Important Bird Area

The island, along with Nii-jima and some uninhabited islets nearby, have been recognised as an Important Bird Area (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 they support populations of Japanese murrelets, Japanese wood pigeons, Pleske's grasshopper warblers, Ijima's leaf-warblers and Izu thrushes.

History

The history of human settlement on Shikine-jima dates to prehistoric times, and archaeologists have found number remains from the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

on the island. With plentiful water and seafood from the warm Kuroshio Current, there is a continuous record of habitation on the island from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

through 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 character ...

. Convict boats on their way to or from Hachijō-jima frequently spotted at Shikine-jima waiting for favorable winds. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the island was base for

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must oft ...

and salt production. In the modern period, tourism based on sports fishing, hot spring resorts, and water sports dominates the economy. Access to Shikine-jima is by ferry from Takeshiba Sanbashi Pier in Tokyo, operated by Tokai Kisen. Ferries also leave from Shimoda

. A village operated ferry also makes several daily crossings between Niijima and Shikinejima. The crossing is approximately 10 minutes.

Education

The island has one elementary school, Shikinejima Elementary School and one junior high school, Shikinejima Junior High School. High school students either travel by ferry, daily, to Niijima to attend Niijima High School or attend a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

elsewhere.

References

External links