Toshima, Kagoshima

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This article is about the village in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. For the special ward of Tokyo, please see Toshima, Tokyo (ward).

Toshima (十島村, Toshima-mura^?) is a village located in Kagoshima District, Kagoshima, Japan. The village office is located in Kagoshima City outside the village.

As of 2003, the village has an estimated population of 747 and a density of 7.37 persons per km². The total area is 101.35 km².

Toshima means ten islands: Iōjima, Kuroshima, Takeshima, Kuchinoshima, Nakanoshima, Gajajima, Tairajima, Suwanosejima, Akusekijima, and Takarajima. The former three were separated as Mishima Village.

[edit] History

The village is a part of the former Jitto Village (十島村 Jitto-son; the same characters as the current name, but with a different pronunciation).

The ten islands composing the village were a part of the former Ryūkyū Kingdom and became the territory of the Shimazu family (a vassal of the Tokugawa clan) in 1609. After the Meiji Restoration, these islands were allotted to Kawanabe District of Satsuma Province, then transferred to Oshima District of Osumi Province in 1897. Jitto Village was established as a municipality in 1908.

In 1946, the southern seven of the ten islands were put under the administration of the United States and isolated from Japan, so that the remaining three islands formed Mishima, Kagoshima Village. In 1952, when the seven islands were returned to Japan, Jitto Village was officially divided into Toshima Village and Mishima Village. In 1973, the two villages were transferred to Kagoshima District.