Kenbokki Island

Kenbokki Island
Native name:
嶮暮帰島
Kenbokki Island viewed from Cape Azechi
Geography
LocationPacific coast of eastern Hokkaidō
Coordinates43°03′00″N 145°06′18″E / 43.050112°N 145.105138°E / 43.050112; 145.105138
Coastline4.5 km (2.8 mi)
Administration
Japan
PrefectureHokkaido
SubprefectureKushiro Subprefecture
DistrictAkkeshi District
TownHamanaka
Demographics
Populationuninhabited

Kenbokki Island (嶮暮帰島, Kenbokki-tō) is an uninhabited island in Hamanaka, Hokkaidō, Japan. The island, with a 4.5-kilometer coastline, forms part of Akkeshi Prefectural Natural Park. The name is derived from the Ainu kene-pok or "beneath the alder" (Alnus japonica). During studies in 1999, four species of mammal (long-clawed shrew, grey-sided vole, harbour seal, and visiting sika deer) and forty-one species of birds were recorded on the island; there were no amphibians or reptiles. Of the birds, Leach's storm petrel (some twenty thousand pairs), Japanese cormorant, Japanese snipe, slaty-backed gull, and common reed bunting were identified as breeding on Kenbokki. Flora include Gentiana triflora var. japonica (エゾリンドウ), Hemerocallis esculenta, and lily-of-the-valley. Masanori Hata founded Mutsugorō Animal Kingdom (ムツゴロウ動物王国) after his stay on the island.