Karafuto Prefecture

"Karafuto" redirects here. For other uses, seeKarafuto (disambiguation).

Karafuto Prefecture Hoa thái sảnh
Former subdivision of theEmpire of Japan
1905–1949
Flag Emblem
Green:Karafuto Prefecture within Japan in 1942 Light green:Other constituents of theEmpire of Japan
Anthem
Karafuto tōka
Capital	Ōtomari(1907–1908) Toyohara(1908–1945)
Population
• December 1941	406,557
History
•Treaty of Portsmouth	5 September 1905
• External territory status	1907
• Upgraded to "inner land"	1943
•Soviet invasion	11–25 August 1945
• Dissolution	1 June 1949
Preceded by Succeeded by Sakhalin Department Sakhalin Oblast
Today part of	Russia

Karafuto Agency,from 1943Karafuto Prefecture,commonly known asSouth Sakhalin,was a part of theEmpire of JapanonSakhalin.It was part of thegaichifrom 1907 to 1943 and later aprefectureas part of thenaichiuntil 1945.

Karafuto became a territory of theEmpire of Japanin 1905 after theRusso-Japanese War,when the portion of Sakhalin south of50°Nwas ceded from theRussian Empirein theTreaty of Portsmouth.Karafuto was established in 1907 as anexternal territory,until being upgraded to an "Inner Land"of the Japanesemetropolein 1943.Ōtomari(Korsakov) was the capital of Karafuto from 1905 to 1908 andToyohara(Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 1908 to 1945.

In August 1945, the Japanese administration ceased to function following theinvasion of South Sakhalinby theSoviet Union.Karafuto Prefecture wasde factoannexed to the pre-existingSakhalin Oblast,although it continued to existde jureunder Japanese law until it was formally abolished as alegal entityby Japan in June 1949.

Name

The Japanese nameKarafutopurportedly comes fromAinukamuy kar put ya mosir(カムィ・カㇻ・プッ・ヤ・モシㇼ), which means'the island a god has created on the estuary (ofAmur River)'.It was formerly known asKita Ezo,meaning NorthernEzo(Ezo was the former name forHokkaido). When the Japanese administered the prefecture,Karafutousually meant Southern Sakhalin only. For convenience, the northern part of the island was sometimes calledSagaren.

InRussian,the entire island was namedSakhalinorSaghalien.It is fromManchusahaliyan ula angga hada,meaning "peak of the mouth of Amur River". The southern part was simply calledYuzhny Sakhalin( "South Sakhalin" ). InKorean,the name isSahallinorHwataedo,with the latter name in use duringKorea under Japanese rule.

History

Map ofSakhalinwithparallelsshowing the division at the50th parallel northwith the Karafuto Prefecture highlighted in red

The Karafuto Prefectural Office in Toyohara

Japanesesettlement on Sakhalin dates to at least theEdo period.Ōtomari was established in 1679, and cartographers of theMatsumae domainmapped the island, and named it "Kita-Ezo".Japanese cartographer and explorerMamiya Rinzōestablished that Sakhalin was an island through his discovery of what is now namedMamiya Strait(Strait of Tartary) in 1809. Japan unilaterally proclaimedsovereigntyover the whole island in 1845.

The 1855Treaty of Shimodaacknowledged that both theRussian Empireand Japan had joint rights of occupation to Sakhalin, without setting a definite territorial demarcation. As the island became settled in the 1860s and 1870s, this ambiguity led to increasing friction between settlers. Attempts by theTokugawa shogunateto purchase the entire island from the Russian Empire failed, and the newMeiji governmentwas unable to negotiate a partition of the island into separate territories. In theTreaty of Saint Petersburg (1875),Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin in exchange for undisputed ownership of theKuril Islands.

Japaninvaded Sakhalinin the final stages of theRusso-Japanese Warof 1904–1905, but per the 1905Treaty of Portsmouthwas allowed to retain only the southern portion of the island below the50° N parallel.Russia retained the northern portion, although the Japanese were awarded favorable commercial rights, including fishing and mineral extraction rights in the north. In 1907, Karafuto Prefecture was officially established, with the capital atŌtomari.In 1908, the capital was relocated toToyohara.

In 1920, Karafuto was officially designated an external territory of Japan, and its administration and development came under the aegis of theMinistry of Colonial Affairs.Following theNikolaevsk Incidentin 1920, Japan briefly seized the northern half of Sakhalin, and occupied it until the establishment of formaldiplomatic relationswith theSoviet Unionin 1925; however, Japan continued to maintainpetroleumandcoalconcessions in northern Sakhalin until 1944. In 1943, the status of Karafuto was upgraded to that of an "inner land",making it an integral part of theEmpire of Japan.

As Japan was extending its influence overEast Asiaand thePacificthrough the establishment of aGreater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,theImperial Japanese Armyas part of its offensivecontingency plansto invade theSoviet Unionif it either became involved in thePacific Waror collapsed due to theongoing German invasion,proposed the annexation of the remaining northern half of Sakhalin to Japan.

Soviet invasion

Main article:Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin

In August 1945, after repudiating theSoviet–Japanese Neutrality Pactin April, and according to the signed agreements of Yalta, in which Stalin pledged that the Soviet Union would enter the Pacific War three months after the defeat of Germany, theSoviet Unioninvaded Karafuto. The Soviet attack started on 11 August 1945, three days before thesurrender of Japan.The Soviet 56th Rifle Corps, part of the16th Army,consisting of the 79th Rifle Division, the 2nd Rifle Brigade, the 5th Rifle Brigade and the 214 Armored Brigade,attacked theJapanese 88th Infantry Division.Although the SovietRed Armyoutnumbered the Japanese by three to one, they advanced only slowly due to strong Japanese resistance. It was not until the 113th Rifle Brigade and the 365th Independent Naval Infantry Rifle Battalion fromSovetskaya Gavanlanded inTōro,a seashore village in western Karafuto, on 16 August that the Soviets broke the Japanese defense line. Japanese resistance grew weaker after this landing. Actual fighting continued until 21 August. Between 22 and 23 August, most remaining Japanese units agreed to a ceasefire. The Soviets completed the conquest of Karafuto on 25 August 1945, by occupying the capital of Toyohara.

Post-war

Main article:Evacuation of Karafuto and Kuriles

A Japanese soldier at the border between the Karafuto Prefecture and Soviet Sakhalin

There were over 400,000 people living in Karafuto when the Soviet offensive began in early August 1945. Most were of Japanese or Korean extraction, though there was also a smallWhite Russiancommunity as well as someAinu indigenous tribes.By the time of the ceasefire, approximately 100,000 civilians had managed to escape toHokkaidō.The military government established by theSoviet Armybanned the local press, confiscated cars and radio sets and imposed a curfew. Local managers and bureaucrats were made to aid Russian authorities in the process of reconstruction, before being deported to labor camps, either on North Sakhalin or inSiberia.In schools, courses inMarxism–Leninismwere introduced, and Japanese children were obliged to sing songs in praise ofStalin.

Step by step Karafuto lost its Japanese identity.Sakhalin Oblastwas created in February 1946, and by March all towns, villages and streets were givenRussiannames. More and more colonists began to arrive from mainland Russia, with whom the Japanese were obliged to share the limited stock of housing. In October 1946 the Soviets began to repatriate all remaining Japanese. By 1950 most had been sent, willing or not, to Hokkaidō. They had to leave all of their possessions behind, including any currency, Russian or Japanese. Today some keep alive the memory of their former home in the meetings of theKarafuto Renmei,an association for former Karafuto residents.

In 1945, with the defeat of Japan inWorld War II,the Japanese administration in Karafuto ceased to function. The Japanese government formally abolished Karafuto Prefecture as a legal entity on 1 June 1949. In 1951, at theTreaty of San Francisco,Japan renounced its rights to Sakhalin, but did not formally acknowledge Soviet sovereignty over it.Since that time, no final peace treaty has been signed between Japan and Russia, and the status of the neighboringKuril Islandsremains disputed.

Geography

Main article:Geography of Karafuto

Economy

This JapaneseD51 steam locomotivestands outside the present dayYuzhno-SakhalinskRailway Station,Sakhalin Oblast,Russia.They were used by theSoviet Railwaysuntil 1979.

The pre-war economy of Karafuto was based onfishing,forestryandagriculture,together with extraction ofcoalandpetroleum.In terms of industry, thepaper industryand thecharcoalproduction industry was well developed. Pulp forrayonproduction inHonshuwas predominately sourced from Karafuto.The territory suffered from a labor shortage through most of its history, and tax incentives were provided to encourage immigration.IndigenousNivkhandOroksworked in Japanese-run fisheries and asynthetic textileplant near the Russian border. For the construction of the Toyohara-Maoka line,bonded laborwas put to use, including Chinese contract laborers. By the end of the 1920s, these laborers would be replaced with Koreans. With the start of theSecond Sino-Japanese Warin 1937, their population would increase substantially.

An extensive railway network was constructed in Karafuto to support the extraction of natural resources. The Karafuto Railway Bureau(Hoa thái thiết đạo cục,Karafuto Tetsudōkyoku)maintained 682.6 kilometers of track in four main lines and an additional 58.2 kilometers of track.

Government

Karafuto was administered from the central government inTokyoas the Karafuto Agency(Hoa thái thính,Karafuto-chō)under the Colonization Bureau(Thác vụ cục,Takumukyoku)of theHome Ministry.The Colonization Bureau became the Ministry of Colonial Affairs(Thác vụ tỉnh,Takumushō)in 1923 at which time Karafuto was officially designated an overseas territory of theEmpire of Japan.

When the Ministry of Colonial Affairs was absorbed into the newMinistry of Greater East Asiain 1942, the administration of Karafuto was separated, and Karafuto became an integral part of theJapanese archipelago.

Directors of the Karafuto Agency

Name	From	To
Kiichirō Kumagai	28 July 1905	31 March 1907
Kusunose Yukihiko	1 April 1907	24 April 1908
Takejirō Tokonami	24 April 1908	12 June 1908
Sadatarō Hiraoka	12 June 1908	5 June 1914
Bunji Okada	5 June 1914	9 October 1916
Akira Masaya	13 October 1916	17 April 1919
Kinjirō Nagai	17 April 1919	11 June 1924
Akira Masaya(second term)	11 June 1924	5 August 1926
Katsuzō Toyota	5 August 1926	27 July 1927
Kōji Kita	27 July 1927	9 July 1929
Shinobu Agata	9 July 1929	17 December 1931
Masao Kishimoto	17 December 1931	5 July 1932
Takeshi Imamura	5 July 1932	7 May 1938
Toshikazu Munei	7 May 1938	9 April 1940
Masayoshi Ogawa	9 April 1940	1 July 1943
Toshio Ōtsu	1 July 1943	11 November 1947

Major cities

Main article:Political divisions of Karafuto Prefecture

Karafuto Prefecture with 4 subprefectures, namelyToyohara,Maoka,EsutoruandShikuka.Toyohara Citywas also a part of Toyohara Subprefecture.

As of 1945, Karafuto was divided into four subprefectures, which in turn were subdivided into 11districts,in turn divided into 41municipalities(onecity,13towns,and 27villages).

Karafuto's largest city wasToyohara,while other major cities includedEsutoruin the north central andMaokain the south central region.

The list below are the towns and the city of the prefecture. These initalicsare the corresponding currentRussiannames.

Esutoru Subprefecture(Huệ tu thủ chi thính)

• Towns
  • Chinnai (Trân nội đinh,Krasnogorsk)
  • Esutoru (Huệ tu thủ đinh,Uglegorsk)
  • Nayoshi (Danh hảo đinh,Lesogorskoye)
  • Tōro (Tháp lộ đinh,Shakhtyorsk)

Maoka Subprefecture(Chân cương chi thính)

• Towns
  • Honto (Bổn đấu đinh,Nevelsk)
  • Maoka (Chân cương đinh,Kholmsk)
  • Naihoro (Nội hoảng đinh,Gornozavodsk)
  • Noda (Dã điền đinh,Chekhov)
  • Tomarioru (Bạc cư đinh,Tomari)

Shikuka Subprefecture(Phu hương chi thính)

• Towns
  • Shirutoru (Tri thủ đinh,Makarov)
  • Shikuka, Shisuka (Phu hương đinh,Poronaysk)

Toyohara Subprefecture(Phong nguyên chi thính)

• City
  • Toyohara (Phong nguyên thị,Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk)
• Towns
  • Ochiai (Lạc hợp đinh,Dolinsk)
  • Ōtomari (Đại bạc đinh,Korsakov)
  • Rūtaka (Lưu đa gia đinh,Aniva)

See also

• Karafuto Fortress
• Apostolic Prefecture of Karafuto
• Karafuto Shrine
• Nishikubo Shrine
• Sakhalin Ainu language
• Sakhalin Koreans
• Kuril Islands dispute
• Ainu in Russia

References

Further reading

• Sevela, Marie, "Sakhalin: The Japanese under Soviet rule".History and Memory,January 1998, pp. 41–46.
• Sevela, Marie, "Nihon wa Soren ni natta toki. Karafuto kara Saharin e no ikô 1945–1948".Rekishigakukenkû,1995, no. 676, pp. 26–35, 63.

External links

• Secret of Sakhalin Island (Karafuto)
• Karafuto maps:
  • Karafuto Southern Area under Japanese administration
  • Japanese Karafuto province
  • Japanese view of Russian Soviet invasion of the city of Maoka
  • Southern Sakhalin area under Russian administration in the present day
• All Japan Federation of Karafuto(in Japanese)
• Internationalsteam.uk: Steam and the Railways of Sakhalin