Hegura-jima

Hegura Jima (Japanese舳 仓 岛) is an island in the Sea of ​​Japan, 50 km north of the Noto Peninsula, Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan.

Geography

The 1.6 km long and 0.6 km wide island has an area of 0.55 km ² and coastline of around 5 km. The highest elevation of the island is 12.4 m high. From the south coast of the island then rises gently to the north coast with up to 10 m high cliffs fall steeply.

The warm Tsushima current ensures a year-round mild weather.

The settlement therefore focuses on the southern coast. Administratively, the island belongs to the municipality of Wajima and there to the sub- district of the district Hegurajima Amamachi on the harbor, from which it is 50 km away.

Fauna

The island is in spring and autumn as a resting place of more than 300 species of migratory birds, including some species that otherwise unlikely to occur in the rest of Japan, such as the Amurfalken. Thus, in 2009 361 different wild bird species have been recorded on the island, which corresponds to 87.4 % of the prefecture, and is assumed for all of Japan from around 600 species of birds. This is why the island, especially the northwest, awarded as a bird sanctuary and part of the Noto Hanto Quasi - National Park.

Because of the Tsushima current, the island is rich in seafood next.

History

On the island, traces of settlement from the Kofun period (3rd - 6th century) could be detected. 1594 settled Ama divers from the more than 700 km away Kanezaki (now part of Munakata ) on the Noto Peninsula on and got there in 1649 to today's district Amamachi (literally: " Ama- district " ) of Wajima as a country. This also had the exclusive fishing rights for Hegura -jima and Nanatsujima where they harvested over the summer abalone ( awabi ) and turban snails ( sazae ). A larger permanent settlement of Hegura -jima began only in the mid 50's with the construction of modern infrastructure (electricity, ferry, sea water desalination).