Ama, Shimane

Ama is a small island town in Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the whole of Nakanoshima, one of the Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan, together with several uninhabited offshore islets and rocks, and much of its land lies inside Daisen-Oki National Park. The town had an estimated 2,267 residents in October 2020, spread over about 33.5 square kilometres, and its population has fallen steadily since a peak of 6,986 in 1950. Historically the island belonged to the ancient province of Oki and, after the Meiji Restoration, passed from Tottori to Shimane Prefecture in 1881. Ama Village was established in 1904 and became a town in 1969. The former emperor Go-Toba, defeated in the Jokyu War of 1221, was exiled here and lived on the island for nineteen years until he died; Oki Shrine was built in 1939 to mark the seven hundredth year since his death. The economy rests mainly on agriculture and commercial fishing, and the climate is humid subtropical with abundant rain through the year.