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also Kikai-ga-jima is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami Islands between Kyūshū and Okinawa Island. Teikoku's Complete Atlas of Japan, Teikoku-Shoin Co., Ltd., Tokyo,
The island, in area, has a population of approximately 7,657 people. Administratively the island forms the town of Kikai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Much of the island is within the borders of the Amami Guntō Quasi-National Park.
The Shinsarugakuki, a fiction written by an aristocrat Fujiwara no Akihira in the mid-11th century, introduced a merchant named Hachirō-mauto, who traveled all the way to the land of the Fushū in the east and to Kika-no-shima (貴賀之島) in the west.
Some articles of 1187 of the Azuma Kagami state that during the period of the Taira clan's rule, Ata Tadakage of Satsuma Province fled to Kikaijima (貴海島). The Azuma Kagami also states that in 1188 Minamoto no Yoritomo, who soon became shōgun, dispatched troops to pacify Kikaijima (貴賀井島). It was noted that the imperial court objected to the military expedition claiming that it was beyond Japan's administration.
The Tale of the Heike (13th century) depicted Kikaijima (鬼界島), where Shunkan, Taira no Yasuyori, and Fujiwara no Naritsune were exiled following the Shishigatani Incident of 1177.
The island depicted, characterized by sulfur, is identified as Satsuma Iōjima of the Ōsumi Islands, which is part of Kikai Caldera.
There are some controversies over which Kikaijima described in these sources refers to. It may be the modern-day Kikaijima, Satsuma Iōjima or a collective name for the southern islands. From the late 10th century, Kikaijima was seen as the center of the southern islands by mainland Japan.Takanashi Osamu 高梨修, Gusuku isekigun to Kikai-ga-shima 城久遺跡群とキカイガシマ, Nichiryū Bōeki no reimei 日琉交易の黎明, pp. 121–149, 2008 It is also noted by scholars that the character representing the first syllable of Kikai changed from "貴" (noble) to "鬼" (ghost) from the end of the 12th century to the early 13th century.
Archaeologically speaking, the Gusuku Site Complex, discovered in Kikaijima in 2006, rewrites the history of the Ryukyu Islands. The group of archaeological sites on the plateau is one of the largest sites of the Ryukyu Islands of the era. It lasted from 9th to 13th centuries and at its height from the second half of the 11th to the first half of the 12th century. It was characterized by a near-total absence of the native Kaneku Type pottery, which prevailed in coastal communities. What were found instead were goods imported from mainland Japan, China and Korea. Also found was the Kamuiyaki pottery, which was produced in Tokunoshima from the 11th to 14th centuries. The skewed distribution of Kamuiyaki peaked at Kikaijima and Tokunoshima suggests that the purpose of Kamuiyaki production was to serve it to Kikaijima. The Gusuku Site Complex supports the literature-based theory that Kikaijima was a trade center of the southern islands.
In 1306, Chikama Tokiie, a deputy jitō of Kawanabe District, Satsuma Province on behalf of the Hōjō clan, the de facto ruler of the Kamakura shogunate, created a set of documents that specified properties to be inherited by his family members, which included Kikaijima, together with other islands of the Ōsumi, Tokara Islands and Amami Islands.Murai Shōsuke 村井章介, Chūsei kokka no kyōkai to Ryūkyū, Emishi 中世国家の境界と琉球・蝦夷, Kyōkai no Nihon-shi 境界の日本史, pp. 106–137, 1997. After the fall of the Kamakura shogunate, the southern islands seem to have been transferred to the Shimazu clan. It claimed the jito of the Twelve Islands, which were limited to the Ōsumi and Tokara Islands. However, when Shimazu Sadahisa, the head of the clan, handed over Satsuma Province to his son Shimazu Morohisa in 1363, he added the extra Five Islands as the territories to be succeeded, which seem to refer to the Amami Islands including Kikaijima.Nagayama Shūichi 永山修一, Kodai chūsei ni okeru Satsuma Nantō kan no kōryū 古代・中世における薩摩・南島間の交流, Kyōkai no Nihon-shi 境界の日本史, pp. 145–150, 1997.
Kikaijima was conquered by the Ryūkyū Kingdom. The Haedong Jegukgi (1471), whose source was a Japanese monk visiting Korea in 1453, describes Kikaijima as a territory of Ryūkyū. An article of 1462 in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which records an interview from a Jeju Province islander who had drifted to Okinawa in 1456, states that Kikaijima was resisting Ryūkyū's repeated invasions. According to the Chūzan Seikan (1650), King Shō Toku himself pacified Kikaijima in 1466, claiming that Kikaijima had not paid tribute for years.Takahashi Ichirō 高橋一郎, Umi no Ko-Amami 海の古奄美, Nichiryū Bōeki no reimei 日琉交易の黎明, pp. 151–181, 2008.
As a result of Satsuma Domain's conquest of the Ryūkyū Kingdom of 1609, Kikaijima fell under the direct control of Satsuma. After the Meiji Restoration it was incorporated into Ōsumi Province and later became part of Kagoshima Prefecture. Following World War II, although with the other Amami Islands, it was occupied by the United States until 1953, at which time it reverted to the control of Japan.
In 2018 resident Nabi Tajima, the last remaining person known to have been born in the 19th century, died in a local medical facility.
Kikai Airport connects the island with Amami-Oshima and Kagoshima by air.
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