| Kami-shima (神島) is an inhabited island at the mouth of Ise Bay off the east coast of central Honshu, Japan. It is administered by the city of Toba in Mie Prefecture. The name for Kami-shima has alternatively been written as Kameshima (亀島) or Kajima (歌島). The current name Kami-shima, or “God island,” refers to a Shinto shrine on the island called Yatsushiro shrine. Archaeologists have found hundreds of ceremonial artifacts on the island, ranging from ancient mirrors to ceramics dating from the Kofun period through the Muromachi period. During the Edo period, the island was used as a prison by Toba Domain, with the sobriquet “Shima-Hachijo” in reference to the prison island of Hachijō-jima used by the Tokugawa shogunate. |
