Karafuto Prefecture
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| Capital | Toyohara |
| Area - Total |
76,400 km² |
| Population |
600,000 |
Karafuto (樺太, literal meaning: "Fat Birch", Ainu: Karaputo or Kraftu), formerly known as Kita Ezo, is the Japanese name for the southern part of the island of Sakhalin or the entire island of Sakhalin. By some accounts, Karafuto became a prefecture of Japan in 1907, with its capital at Toyohara. However, the name of the governmental office was not to, dō, fu or ken (都道府県, the names for present-day prefectures) but rather chō (庁), so the name prefecture may be inaccurate. In 1945, with the defeat of Japan in World War II, the Japanese administration in Karafuto ceased to function, and in 1951, at the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan renounced its rights to Karafuto. Since that time, the southern part of Sakhalin has been a part of Russia (which was in 1952 and for four more decades part of the Soviet Union). It is still in question whether Japan does claim Karafuto as part of Japan or not. Regardless of it, it has been part of Japan and Some Japanese Political Parties are still officially claiming it as part of Japan. In Japanese maps, Karafuto is considered to be No Man's Land.
History
Karafuto has been a long time home for Ainus. Karafuto in Ainu language (Kamuy Kara Puto Ya Moshir) literally means mouth of water because it is near the Amur River. Historically, Ainus, Uilta, and Gilyaks lived on the island.
Oldest Chinese geography book Sengai-kyo states that the boundary between Japan and China is at the Amur river. However, there were no permanent "Japanese settlers" in Karafuto at this time.
It was only until the early 1600s when Matsumae Clan of Japan started to colonize the island as part of Japan. The Japanese called Karafuto as Kita-Ezo because it was above Ezo (Hokkaido) during this time. On 1966, Matsumae clan made the world's first map of Karafuto. The name of the map is known as "Seiho Okuni Ezu". Matsumae established a town of Kushunkotan (present day Korsakov), Shiranui and Mauka (present day Kholmsk) to establish a trade post with the Ainus on 1679.
It has been attacked by the Russians numerous times eversince the Russians have aquired the Manchu territories East of Ussuri River. Russia began to pressue Japan to relinquish Karafuto and Chishima islands. Negotiations began on 1855 and on 1875, Japan relinquished Karafuto and confirmed the territory of Chishima Kuril Islands. The entire Japanese population in Karafuto were repatriated to Japan including Ainus who chose to migrate to Japan. Most of the Russians in Chishima Kuril Islands left but the Ainus stayed to be administered under Japan.
In 1905, Japan aquired Southern Karafuto back as the result of Russo-Japanese War and all the Ainus and Japanese moved back to Karafuto.
In 1920, Japan and Soviet Union signed a treaty to accept eachother's territory as valid. Soviet Union dropped their claim on Karafuto as Japan dropped its claim on Soviet Sakhalin.
By 1945, population of Karafuto jumped to 450,000 mostly Japanese and Korean people. There were few Ethnic Russian and Poles who were living peacefully with the Japanese.
In 1945, Japan was defeated in WW II and the Soviet Union invaded Karafuto, Chishima, Manchuria, and North Korea by breaking the Neutrality Pact. Thousands of Japanese civillians were killed in Karafuto. Recorded deaths are in City of Maoka, 2000 Japanese civilians were killed. At Toyohara, over 1000 and at the Soya Strait, 3000 lives were perished as the Soviet submarines sunk the Japanese refugee ships. Death toll during this invasion is still very vague. Japan was forced to give up Karafuto unconditionally by the Potsdam Declaration. The entire Japanese population were deported from Karafuto and all their properties were seized by the Soviet government. Soviet Union officially annexed Karafuto a year later.
Conference of San Francisco should have settled the definitive frontier between two countries. However the Conference was boycotted by the Russian delegation. They refused to sign the final document, because it didn't say clearly that south Sakhalin and Kurils should become Russian territories. So the frontier between 2 countries remains undefined until now.
Currently, the Japanese government run by Liberal Democratic Party does not have an official claim on Karafuto. However, Socialist Parties and other Parties have claimed its territories to be Japanese. Its status is still vague since Japan officially does not recognize Russian occupation of Karafuto. Japan insists of bringing this issue to the international court but Russia so far has refused.
Geography
The prefecture of Karafuto incorporated several smaller islands, including Kaihyo Island, Kaiba Island, and Kiken Island.
Karafuto is a very mountanous area. Its highest mountain is Mount Shikuka 敷香岳(1,375 km) Then comes as follows
- Mount Horoto 幌登岳 (1,259m)
- Mount Esutoru 恵須取岳 (1,135m)
- Mount Fushimi 釜伏岳 (1,087m)
- Mount Susuya 鈴谷岳 (1,045m)
There are numerous Lakes in Karfuto as well.
- Lake Taraika 多来加湖
- Lake Tomunai 富内湖
- Lake Raichishi 来知志湖
- Lake Tobuchi 遠渕湖
- Lake Waai 和愛湖
- Lake Jimeni 地邊讃湖
- Lake Enhoro 遠幌湖
- Lake Ondo 恩洞湖
- Lake Shiratori 白鳥湖
- Lake Omudo 雄武洞沼
- Lake Toro 塔路沼
See also: List of cities in Karafuto
Climate
Owing to the influence of the raw, foggy Sea of Okhotsk, the climate is very cold. At Dui the average yearly temperature is only 0.5° C (January -15.9°; July 16.1°), 1.7° at Kushunkotan and 3.1° at Aniwa (January, -12.5°; July, 15.7°). At Mamiya near Dui the annual range is from 27° in July to -39° in January, while at Rutaka in the interior the minimum is -45° C. The rainfall averages 570 mm. Thick clouds for the most part shut out the sun; while the cold current from the Sea of Okhotsk, aided by north-east winds, brings immense ice-floes to the east coast in summer.
During the winter, the Sea of Okhotsk turns to ice, rendering the northern coast impassable to marine traffic, and halting the lucrative fisheries there until the thaw.
Major Cities
Karafuto's largest city was Toyohara. Other major cities included Esutoru in the North Central and Maoka in the south central region. In the North, there was a city called Ako which was used as a penal colony by the Russians.
Karafuto, like Hokkaido, was divided into sub-prefectures:
- Toyohara Sub Prefecture
- Maoka Sub Prefecture
- Esutoru Sub Prefecture
- Shikuka Sub Prefecture