Ama played an important part in Japanese history, because it was a place where many defeated warriors and political figures were banished. In Japan places of banishment were decided according to the person and the size of his crime. The highest ranking political criminals were banished to places far away. It is said that Ama was one of those places.

The first important figure that was sent to Ama was Onono Takamura in B.C 724, but he stayed only one year and was forgiven by the government. A previous Emperor of Japan, Gotoba, was who sent to ama in 1221 and was detained for 19 years until his death. There are so many legends about his life in Ama. It is said that he was fond of making swords and love to watch bullfighting. He was a great lover of poem and he himself was a poet. In the period of Edo, there were more than 20000 exiled people in Ama Island. The local people believe that the inhabitance of great emperors influenced their daily life in many positive ways

Ex-emperor Gotoba wrote in one of his poems “This is the new Island which I have to protect, so strong wind of the sea, you have to blow calmly”