Sado Island

Largest island in Niigata prefecture in the Sea of Japan, off the northwest coast of Honshu island, 35 km/22 mi from Niigata, area 857 sq km/331 sq mi; population (1990) 78,100. The chief settlement, Ryotsu, is ranked as a city in the smallest category, with a population of under 100,000, but it has an airport. Gold-mining dates from 1601 and still residually exists. Sado's tourist attractions include a scenic coastline, a distinctive folklore of songs and dances and the endangered Japanese crested ibis (toki). Sado was effectively an autonomous feudal province from 702 to 1876 and was used as a place of exile in the 12th and 16th centuries.