Saigo Takamori (1828-1877), the great Meiji Restoration hero, endured two island exiles totaling six years. After his lord Shimazu Nariakira's death and a failed double-suicide with the monk Gessho, he was secretly exiled to Amami Oshima (1859-62), where he married Aikana, then to Okinoerabu Island (1862-64) where he was confined in an open-air cell.

In the Sengoku era, the four Shimazu brothers — Yoshihisa, Yoshihiro, and others — expanded from Satsuma to the brink of unifying Kyushu. They submitted to Hideyoshi's army in 1587 but kept Satsuma and Osumi until the end of the Edo period. The story of the Shimazu, famed for the valor of the Satsuma warriors.