Kushima, Japan

History

The area of Kushima was part of ancient Hyūga Province. During the Muromachi period it was ruled by the Nobe clan, who had been dispatched by the Ashikaga shogunate to subdue local clans. Gishō, the son of the 3rd Ashikaga Shogun, fled to Kushima after being accessed of rebellion, and committed suicide at Eitoku-ji temple in northern Kushima in 1441. During the Edo period, the area was mostly an exclave of Takanabe Domain) sandwiched between the holdings of Obi Domain and Satsuma Domain.

Following the Meiji restoration, the village of Fukushima was established within Minaminaka District, Miyazaki on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on October 1, 1926. On November 3, 1954, Fukushima Town merged with the villages of Otsuka, Honjo, Toi, and Ichiki in Minaminaka District to form the city of Kushima.

From 1992, the city was the center of a political scandal over efforts by Kyushu Electric Power to build a nuclear power plant in Kushima. The mayor of Kushima was subsequently arrested for accepting bribes and paying bribes to city council members to overcome strong local opposition to the plan.

From the History section of Kushima, Miyazaki on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.