Awaji Island (淡路島, Awaji-shima) is an islandinHyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 square kilometres (228.64 square miles).[1] It is the largest island of the Seto Inland Sea.
As a transit between those two islands, Awaji originally means "the road to Awa",[2] the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture.
The Nojima Fault, responsible for the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, cuts across the island. A section of the fault was protected and turned into the Nojima Fault Preservation Museum in the Hokudancho Earthquake Memorial Park (北淡町震災記念公園) to show how the movement in the ground cut across roads, hedges and other installations. Outside of this protected area, the fault zone is less visible.[5]
The Onaruto Bridge Memorial Museum (大鳴門橋記念館, Ōnarutokyō Kinenkan) and the Uzushio Science Museum (うずしお科学館, Uzushio Kagakukan) are located near Fukura.[6]
The Awaji Ningyō-Jōruri, a more-than-500-year-old form of traditional puppet theater, or ningyō-jōruri, daily performs several shows in the Awaji Ningyō-Jōruri Hall (人形浄瑠璃館)inMinamiawaji, Hyōgo in the southern part of the island and is designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Japan. The Awaji puppets perform popular traditional dramas but have their origins in religious rituals.[8]
Starting in the 1830s, the local potter Minpei started producing what would be then known as Awaji ware, also known as Minpei ware.
In 1995, this island was the epicenter of the Kobe earthquake, which killed over 5,502 people. The earthquake caused enormous damage around the northern part of the island, which observed a severe earthquake with a seismic intensity 7. The earthquake has a seismic fault called Nojima Fault. This fault is one of the closest faults to the epicenter and was designated as a national natural monument in 1998. [citation needed]
^Genji Shibukawa. "Japanese Creation Myth". Tales from the Kojiki. Harcourt Brace Custom Publishing. Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
^Hiroko Yamamoto. "Awaji Ningyo Joruri". Asia-Pacific Database. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
^"About Yumebutai". Awaji Yumebutai The Westin Hotel and Resort and International Conference Center. 2006. Archived from the original on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
