The island consists primarily of basalt, and is a part of the Kita-Nagato Kaigan Quasi-National Park.

The name of the island appears on a mokkan wooden slip excavated at the site of the Heijō Palace in Nara.

[1][3] A reference to the island also appears in a poem in the sixteenth part of the Man'yōshū, the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, completed in 759.

The Engishiki, a Japanese book of laws and regulations compiled in 927, refers to a ranch on the island, which was then part of Nagato Province.

The island was noted for the production of materials to make tatami matting, sesame seeds, and beef.

Following the opening of Tsunoshima Bridge, the area has frequently been used as a location for films and television shows.