Okishima
| Okishima / Okinoshima | ||
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| Waters | Lake Biwa | |
| Geographical location | 35 ° 12 '28 " N , 136 ° 3' 48" E | |
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| surface | 1.51 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 220.2 m | |
| main place | Okishima-chō, Ōmihachiman | |
The Okishima ( Japanese 沖 島 ), also called Okinoshima ( 沖 ノ 島 ), is the largest of the three islands in Lake Biwa in Japan and the only permanently inhabited island in Japanese inland waters.
geography
The 1.51 km² island is the top of a mountain that rises from the bottom of Lake Biwa, which slopes down to a depth of over 100 m, in the immediate vicinity of the shore. The shape of the Okishima corresponds roughly to a “Y”, with two arms formed by a ridge. The third, medium-length arm consists of another hill, which is separated from the main massif by a pass that rises only a few meters above the water level but is a few dozen meters wide. The highest point on the longest arm is almost 100 meters above the water level. The smaller hill is only a few dozen meters high. The largest extension of the island is over 2.5 km. The shore is about 6.8 km long. Since the arms of the island are only covered with mostly steeper slopes, the only flat spot is in the area of the pass. In the meantime, however, some sections of the bank have been leveled. The undeveloped area of the island is almost completely covered by impenetrable maquis , which prevents erosion.
location
Lake Biwa has roughly the shape of an oval with a north-east-south-west longitudinal axis. Its extension is over 60 by almost 20 km. The Okishima lies on the south-eastern shore of the lake in the middle of the longitudinal axis. The island is roughly parallel to the shore. The ridge of the island continues on the mainland in the form of a headland and there reaches a height of over 400 m. The smallest distance from the island to the shore is hardly more than one kilometer to the previously mentioned headland and about 1.5 km to the continuous strip of shore. It's a good nine kilometers to the opposite north-west bank.
history
Lake Biwa was formed about 5 million years ago and has been small and shallow for most of the past. The Okishima and a second, somewhat larger island closer to the shore therefore emerged relatively late. Both islands have been settled for millennia, on the Okishima once lived a multiple of today's population. The sanctuaries, the post office, the large port and the primary school date from this period. With the opening of Japan, the migration to the cities began, which took away the importance of the islands as living space and trading center. The area of the lake around the neighboring island of Okishima was filled up, leaving behind a new, small lake ( 西 ノ 湖 , Nishi-no-ko , German "western lake"). The island no longer existed as such. The Okishima was spared this fate, among other things for technical reasons, but in the middle of the last century the previously independent island was incorporated into the city of Ōmihachiman (formerly Hachiman), which is on the neighboring mainland, as part of the territorial reform and is still one today District of it.
population
Today about 450 people live on the island in the Okishima-chō district of Ōmihachiman. Seen from above, this has the shape of an "H". The crossbar of the H runs over the mountain pass of the island, the longitudinal arms nestle along the opposite bank slopes. The population is extremely old. Only seven 6- to 12-year-olds live on the island and attend Okishima Primary School ( 沖 島 小学校 ), previously there were over 150 children. The handful of middle and high school students take the ferry and bus to Ōmihachiman every day to go to school. Most of the people work on the mainland, the rest (mainly over 80s) as small farmers. The interaction between people and their self-sufficiency is strongly reminiscent of past centuries. The trend of emigration is still noticeable. At the same time, nobody moves to the island, whose population has been divided into seven large families for decades.
traffic
The only port on the island is connected by ferry to the nearest port on the mainland. The two-hour crossing on the two-kilometer route takes a good ten minutes and costs around four euros. There are paved “roads” on the island, but not a single motorized vehicle. The place can be crossed on foot in a maximum of 15 minutes. Bicycles are the most common form of transportation. Due to the dense vegetation, the network of paths is limited to built-up parts of the bank and the smaller hill. It is therefore not possible to cross islands or climb and cross the main mountain. From the mainland port you can reach the city center and train station of Ohmihachiman in a quarter of an hour by bus. However, many islanders have parked their own car on the shore.
Name of the island
The Japanese name is made up of 沖 (German “in the middle of the water”) and 島 (German “island”). Due to its size, it is considered by many to be the only "real" island in the lake, which is what gave it its name. The other two islands, which are much more “in the middle of the water” from a location, only look like individual rocks in the water from a distance. The Okishima, also recognizable as a larger mountain from further away, was given this name. The term Okinoshima ( 沖 ノ 島 ) is less common . The ノ means “from”. Japanese nouns are connected either with or without no , depending on the case ; in geographical names, as here, both are often possible at the same time.
Worth seeing
If you have a few days of slack on your trip to western Japan, which you should definitely take, a visit to the island is highly recommended. It can be reached by train, bus and boat several times an hour from Kyoto in one hour. Even the boat trip is an experience: The view from the old ferry opens up interesting views of the shore and the mainland. On the island you should visit the small elementary school and take the path to the shrine. The narrow streets of the village in the area of the mountain pass, the temple on the smaller hill and the orchards on the northeast bank are also worth seeing. Freshly caught fish and marine animals can be bought at the harbor. It is very enlightening to talk to locals to understand the island mentality.
swell
- Ōmihachiman Tourist Office
- ↑ 島 面積 . (PDF; 136 kB) (No longer available online.) Kokudo Chiriin , October 1, 2015, archived from the original on June 15, 2016 ; Retrieved August 2, 2016 (Japanese). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
