Ancient and classical period In
Japanese mythology, Tsushima was one of the eight original islands created by the
Shinto deities
Izanagi and
Izanami. Archaeological evidence suggests that Tsushima was already inhabited by settlers from the
Japanese archipelago and
Korean Peninsula from the
Jōmon period to the
Kofun period. The
Records of the Three Kingdoms, a
Chinese historical text, describes a country called
Duì hǎi guó () with a population of more than one thousand households, which is commonly identified with Tsushima. It was one of the about 30 that composed the
Yamatai union countries. These families exerted control over
Iki Island, and established trading links with
Yayoi Japan. Since Tsushima had almost no land to cultivate, islanders earned their living by fishing and trading. Since the beginning of the early sixth century, Tsushima has been an official province of Japan, known as
Tsushima Province (today
Tsushima, Nagasaki.) Under the
Ritsuryō system, Tsushima became a
province of Japan. This province was linked with
Dazaifu, the political and economic center of
Kyūshū, as well as the central government of Japan. Due to its strategic location, Tsushima played a major role in defending Japan against invasions from the Asian continent and developing trade lines with
Baekje and
Silla of the
Three Kingdoms of Korea. After Baekje, which had been aided by Yamato Japan, was defeated in 663 by Sillan and
Tang Chinese forces at the
Battle of Baekgang, Japanese border guards were sent to Tsushima and
Kaneda Castle was constructed on the island. Tsushima Province was controlled by officials called
Tsushima no kuni no miyatsuko () until the
Nara period, and then by the
Abiru clan until the middle of the 13th century. The role and title of "Governor of Tsushima" were exclusively held by the
Shōni clan for generations. However, since the Shōni actually resided in Kyūshū, it was the
Sō clan, known subjects of the Shōni, who actually exerted control over these islands. The Sō clan governed Tsushima until the late 19th century.
Feudal period started in the
Muromachi era for about 400 years were welcomed by the
Yamato people as seen in this painting of
Edo Tsushima was an important trade center during this period. After the
Toi invasion, private trade started between
Goryeo (modern day Korea), Tsushima,
Iki Island, and Kyūshū, but halted during the
Mongol invasions of Japan between 1274 and 1281. The
Goryeosa, a history of the Goryeo dynasty, mentions that in 1274, Korean troops of the Mongol army led by killed a great number of people on the islands. Tsushima became one of the major bases of the
Wokou, Japanese pirates, also called
wakō, along with Iki and
Matsuura. Due to repeated pirate raids, Korea's
Goryeo and
Joseon at times placated the pirates by establishing trade agreements as well as negotiating with the
Ashikaga shogunate and its deputy in Kyūshū and at other times used force to neutralize the pirates. In 1389, General Pak Wi of Goryeo wiped out Wokou on the island of Tsushima. On 19 June 1419, the recently abdicated king
Taejong of Joseon sent general
Yi Chongmu to an expedition to Tsushima to clear it of the Wokou pirates, using a fleet of 227 vessels and 17,000 soldiers, known in Japanese as the
Ōei Invasion. After suffering casualties in an ambush, the Korean Army retaliated inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese which later negotiated a ceasefire that led to the withdrawal of the Joseon army on 3 July 1419. In 1443, the Daimyō of Tsushima,
Sō Sadamori proposed the
Treaty of Gyehae. The number of trade ships from Tsushima to Korea was decided by this treaty, and the Sō clan monopolized the trade with Korea. In 1510, Japanese traders initiated an uprising against Joseon's stricter policies on Japanese traders from Tsushima and Iki coming to
Busan,
Ulsan and
Jinhae to trade. The So Clan supported the uprising, but it was soon crushed. The uprising later came to be known as the "
Disturbance of the Three Ports" ( in Japan and 삼포왜란 (三浦倭亂, Sampo Waeran) in Korea). Trade resumed under the direction of
King Jungjong in 1512, but only under strictly limited terms, and only twenty-five ships were allowed to visit Joseon annually. In the late 16th century, Japanese leader
Toyotomi Hideyoshi united the various feudal lords (daimyō) under his command and in 1587, Hideyoshi confirmed the Sō clan's possession of Tsushima.
Sō Yoshitoshi (宗 義智, 1568 – 31 January 1615) was a Sō clan
daimyō (feudal lord) of the island domain of Tsushima. Planning to unite all factions with a common cause, Hideyoshi's coalition attacked Joseon Korea, leading to the
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). Tsushima was the main naval base for this invasion, and in continuing support of the war, large numbers of Korean prisoners were transported to Tsushima until Japan's defeat at the hands of the Koreans in 1598. in 1615 In 1603,
Tokugawa Ieyasu established a new shogunate; and Sō Yoshitoshi was officially granted Fuchū Domain (100,000 koku) in Tsushima Province. Following the devastation of the Imjin War (1592–1598), relations between Korea and Japan were gradually restored, with Tsushima playing a crucial role as an intermediary. Tokugawa Ieyasu, aiming to reestablish ties with the Joseon court, utilized the Sō clan of Tsushima to broker negotiations, which culminated in the Kiyu Agreement of 1609. This agreement formally regulated trade and diplomatic exchanges, allowing Tsushima to monopolize contact with Korea on Japan's behalf. The island became economically dependent on Korean grain imports, with some reports suggesting that over half of the rice consumed in Tsushima originated from Korea. The establishment of the Waegwan (Japan House) in Pusan further institutionalized these interactions, serving as a hub for controlled trade and diplomacy. This arrangement persisted throughout the Tokugawa period, solidifying Tsushima's status as both a conduit and a contested space between the two nations. The
Tsushima-Fuchū Domain shipyard was built in 1663 CE. There are still ruins of the shipyard on the island. After Japan's attempts at conquest failed, peace was re-established between the two nations. Once again, the islands became a port for merchants. Both the Joseon Dynasty and the
Tsushima-Fuchū Domain sent their trading representatives to Tsushima, governing trade until 1755. The island was described by
Hayashi Shihei in
Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu, which was published in 1785. It was identified as part of Japan. In 1811, for cost reduction, representatives of the
Tokugawa shogunate met at Tsushima with ambassadors from the Joseon king (
Joseon Tongsinsa). Until the
Meiji, Tsushima was a frontier between Japan and Korea, heavily dependent on trade with Korea, with unique institutions/systems of trade which strongly resembled those of Korean, not Japanese, institutions - for instance, a measurement system for the taxation of land in Japan, is determined by the production of
kokus of rice. Tsushima had a low production of rice, so it was permitted to use a unique survey system () by the Tokugawa shogunate. Because it had originated in the China Land Survey System (間尺法), it was similar to the system of Korea - gyeolbu (結負制); Tsushima law resembled Korean law in its calculation of finances. "Unfree labor" or slavery for fixed periods of time, always rare in any form in the rest of Japan, existed as an established institution, often as a form of punishment, in Tsushima as it did in Korea. The Tsushima han owned a place of residence in Busan, according to Murai Shosuke, the Japanese were given the title from the Joseon dynasty called "marginal men", and was responsible for security in this residential area. The islanders spoke the
Tsushima dialect and their daily customs, social structure, and economic interactions were in Japanese, with exception of loanwords from Korean in their dialect.
Modern period in 1900 In an episode now known as the
Tsushima incident, the
Imperial Russian Navy tried to appropriate the island by establishing a base on the island in 1861. In 1860 this plan had been made by Vice Admiral Ivan Likhachev, commanding the Russian squadron in the waters of Japan and the Commander of the Possadnick, Birilev in co-operation with the Russian Consul at Hakodate Goshkevitch. The plan had been discussed with high authorities at St Petersburg who had given the green light to proceed with it. If the plan were to miscarry they would deny all knowledge about it. The Russians were forced to withdraw by Vice Admiral John Hope, commanding the British ships in the waters of Japan on orders of Sir
Rutherford Alcock, representing Britain in Japan and the British government. Support at St Petersburg was given by the British Envoy
Lord Napier and the Dutch Envoy Baron Gevers As a result of the
abolition of the han system, the Tsushima Fuchu domain became part of Izuhara Prefecture in 1871. In the same year, Izuhara Prefecture was merged with Imari Prefecture, which was renamed
Saga Prefecture in 1872. Tsushima was transferred to Nagasaki Prefecture in 1872, and its districts of Kamiagata (上県) and Shimoagata (下県) were merged to form the modern city of
Tsushima. This change was part of widespread reforms within Japan which started after 1854. Japan was at this time becoming a modern nation-state and regional
power, with widespread changes in government, industry, and education. After the
First Sino-Japanese War ended with the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, Japan felt humiliated when the
Triple Intervention of the three great powers of Germany, France, and Russia forced it to return the valuable
Liaodong Peninsula to China under threat of force. Consequently, the Japanese leadership correctly anticipated that a war with Russia or another Western imperial power was likely. Between 1895 and 1904, the
Imperial Japanese Navy blasted the Manzeki-Seto Canal wide and deep; it was later expanded to wide and deep through a mountainous rocky isthmus of the island between
Asō Bay to the west and Tsushima Strait to the east, technically dividing the island into three islands. Strategic concerns explain the scope and funding of the canal project by Japan during an era when it was still struggling to establish an industrial economy. The canal enabled the Japanese to move transports and warships quickly between their main naval bases in the
Seto Inland Sea (directly to the east) via the
Kanmon and
Tsushima Strait into the
Korea Strait or to destinations beyond in the
Yellow Sea. An imperial ordinance in July 1899 established Izuhara, Sasuna, and Shishimi as open ports for trading with the
United States and the
United Kingdom. During the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the
Russian Baltic Fleet under
Admiral Rozhestvensky, after making an almost year-long trip to East Asia from the
Baltic Sea, was crushed by the Japanese under Admiral
Togo Heihachiro at the
Battle of Tsushima. The Japanese third squadron (cruisers) began shadowing the Russian fleet off the tip of the south island and followed it through the Tsushima Strait where the main Japanese fleet awaited. The battle began at slightly east-northeast of the northern island around midday and ended to its north a day later when the Japanese surrounded the Russian Fleet. Japan won a decisive victory. From 1948 to 1949, due to the
Jeju uprising, and its resulting suppression and massacre by anti-communist Korean forces, thousands of Jeju residents fled to Japan via Tsushima. In 1950, the South Korean government asserted sovereignty over the island based on "historical claims". Korea-US negotiations about the
Treaty of San Francisco made no mention of Tsushima. After this, the status of Tsushima as an island of Japan was re-confirmed. While the South Korean government has since relinquished claims on the island, some Koreans (including some members of the Korean parliament) have periodically attempted to
dispute the ownership of the island. In 1973, one of the transmitters for the
OMEGA-navigation system was built on Tsushima. It was dismantled in 1998. Today, Tsushima is part of
Nagasaki Prefecture,
Japan. On 1 March 2004, the six towns on the island – Izuhara, Mitsushima, Toyotama, Mine, Kamiagata, and Kamitsushima – were merged to create the city of Tsushima. About 700
Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel are stationed on the island to watch the local coastal and ocean areas. ==Landmarks==