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For purposes of administration all Japan except the Hokkaidô was again divided in 1872 into three Fu and seventy-two ken, without regard to the boundaries of the provinces. Fu might well be translated city, and ken prefecture. The three Fu are Yedo, Ôzaka and Kiôto, but it would be impossible to give the names of the prefectures, as a process of amalgamation is going on just now which will considerably diminish their number. The names, also, of some of the prefectures have been changed since the list was first published by the government.
The whole number of islands in the Japanese group, exclusive of the four main islands is stated to be over three thousand. Many of these are so small as hardly to deserve the title, while others are large enough to constitute provinces by themselves. Beginning from Yedo and going westwards the first island of importance is that called Idzu no Ôshima, or, the big island of Idzu, by natives, and Vries’, or Barneveld’s island, by Europeans. It is the most northerly of a chain which extends as far south as the 27th degree of north latitude. Next to Vries come Rishima, then Niijima, Shikiné jima, Kantsu jima, Miyaké jima and Mikura jima. All these lie north of the Kuroshiwo, or as we call it, the Japan current. South of the Kuroshiwo, at a distance from Mikura jima estimated variously by Japanese at 66,102 and 17112 miles, lies the island of Hachijô, or Fatsisio as it is spelt in our charts. Fifty miles further south is Awo-ga-shima, which, to judge by its delineation in the Japanese book of charts, is an extinct volcano. An interval of 341 miles separates Hachijô from the Bonin group, which consists of two large islands separated from each other by 50 miles of sea, and a host of islets. Europeans have corrupted the proper name Munin jima, which means ‘Noman’s islands,’ into Bonin. Ogasawara jima is another name given to the group by Japanese. The next island proceeding westward is another Ôshima lying at the south of Kii, and separated from it by a narrow strait. South of Kiushiu extends another long chain, which may be said to begin with Tané-ga-shima
