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62-540: Hōfu is located almost in the center of Yamaguchi Prefecture, facing the Seto Inland Sea to the south. The Saba River , a first-class water system, flows from the northwest of the city toward the Seto Inland Sea. On the offshore side, the remains of former salt fields have been reclaimed to form a plain. In the Seto Inland Sea, five islands, Sabajima, Mukaishima, Nojima, Hirashima, and Okishima, belong to

124-740: A cruise on the Setuchi. The eastern end of the Sea is now famous for the Setouchi Triennale set up in 2010 with the next event happening in 2022. Some of this takes place on the island of Naoshima , known colloquially as the art island, and the home of several permanent museums. At the far eastern extremity, as the Sea meets the Pacific Ocean, are the Naruto whirlpools that can be reached by sight-seeing boats. The Shiwaku Islands are

186-476: A defined group numbering 28 that can be reached by ferry boat from Marugame . Here Richard Henry Brunton built one of his lighthouses that can still be seen, and the grave of Frank Toovey Lake , a young midshipman in his survey party has become famous. In the central area of Seto Inland Sea is Mount Ishizuchi on Shikoku . It is the highest mountain in western Japan and the highest mountain in Shikoku . In

248-431: A large concentration of transportation-related industries in the area. In addition to the large Mazda automobile factory companies such as Bridgestone, Kyowa Hakko Bio, and Tokai Carbon are in the city. The city is also home to an Japan Air Self-Defense Force training base. Hōfu has 17 public elementary school and ten public junior high schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by

310-564: A local seaport on the Seto Inland Sea, and some of them were actually built. The Ministry of Railroads, later the Japanese National Railways and then Shikoku Railway Company , ran some train ferry lines between Honshū and Shikoku including the line between Uno Station (Tamano) and Takamatsu Station (Takamatsu). When the Great Seto Bridge was finished and began to serve the two coastal areas, that ferry line

372-521: A main transport line between its coastal areas, including what is today the Kansai region and Kyushu . It was also a main transport line between Japan and other countries, including Korea and China. Even after the creation of major highways such as the Nankaidō and San'yōdō , the Seto Inland Sea remained a major transport route. There are records that some foreign emissaries from China and Korea sailed on

434-568: A number of smaller ones that pass between islands or connect the Seto Inland Sea to other seas or the Pacific . Almost 3,000 islands are located in the Seto Inland Sea. The largest island is Awaji-shima , and the second largest is Shōdo-shima . Many of the smaller islands are uninhabited. Over 500 marine species are known to live in the Seto Inland Sea. Examples are the ayu , an amphidromous fish, horseshoe crab , finless porpoise , and great white shark , which has occasionally attacked people in

496-506: A part of Hiroshima Prefecture ) clans were two of the more famous suigun lords. In the 12th century, Taira no Kiyomori planned to move the capital from Kyoto to the coastal village of Fukuhara (today Kobe ) to promote trade between Japan and the Song dynasty of China. This transfer was unsuccessful, and soon after Kyoto became the capital again. Later, the Battle of Yashima took place off

558-634: A part of Kobe ) and Akashi for two years. In medieval literature, because of the Genpei War , the Seto Inland Sea is one of the important backgrounds of The Tale of the Heike , particularly in its latter part. In the Western world, Donald Richie wrote a literary nonfiction travelogue called The Inland Sea relating a journey along the sea, beginning from the East at Himeji and ending at Miyajima in

620-533: A part of Wakayama Prefecture , was appointed the Setonaikai National Park ( 瀬戸内海国立公園 , Setonaikai Kokuritsu kōen ) on March 16, 1934, as one of three oldest national parks in Japan. Itsukushima Shrine , on the island of Itsukushima in the city of Hatsukaichi , is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most famous Japanese sites outside Tokyo and Kyoto . Shōdoshima , nicknamed

682-662: A quarter of all paddy fields in Japan. Chiba Prefecture is famous for its peanuts, also being the largest producer in Japan. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu. Most of Japan's tea and silk is from Honshu. Japan's three largest industrial regions are all located on Honshu: the Keihin region , the Hanshin Industrial Region , and the Chūkyō Industrial Area . Honshu

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744-624: Is 105 m (344 ft). Hydrologically, Seto Inland Sea is not a true inland sea , being neither an epeiric body of water like Hudson Bay nor an isolated endorheic basin like the Caspian Sea . Rather, it is actually a marginal sea : a division of a wider ocean (in this case the Pacific) which is partially enclosed by islands, archipelagos, or peninsulas (here, the Japanese Home Islands), adjacent to or widely open to

806-472: Is home to a large portion of Japan's minimal mineral reserves, including small oil and coal deposits. Several coal deposits are located in the northern part of the island, concentrated in Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture , though Honshu's coal production is negligible in comparison to Hokkaido and Kyushu . Most of Japan's oil reserves are also located in northern Honshu, along

868-498: Is known for its moderate climate, with a stable year-round temperature and relatively low rainfall levels. The sea is famous for its periodic red tides ( 赤潮 , akashio ) caused by dense groupings of certain phytoplankton that result in the death of large numbers of fish. Since the 1980s, the sea's northern and southern shores have been connected by the three routes of the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project , including

930-513: Is roughly 1,300 km (810 mi) long and ranges from 50 to 230 km (31 to 143 mi) wide, and its total area is 227,960 km (88,020 sq mi), making it slightly larger than the island of Great Britain . Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north due to plate tectonics with a convergent boundary . Honshu has 10,084 kilometres (6,266 mi) of coastline. Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes (such as

992-412: Is seismically active, and is home to 40 active volcanoes. In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0–9.1 occurred off the coast of Honshu, generating tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) high and killing 19,747. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan , and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The tsunami subsequently led to

1054-701: Is the largest and most populous island of Japan . It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait , north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea , and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits . The island separates the Sea of Japan , which lies to its north and west, from the North Pacific Ocean to the south and east. It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and

1116-578: The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (the second-longest suspension bridge in the world) to Awaji Island , from there via the Ōnaruto Bridge to Ōge-jima ( Naruto , Tokushima Prefecture ) beyond the 1.3-kilometer wide Naruto Strait and finally across the Muya Bridge to Shikoku . The Great Seto Bridge connects Okayama Prefecture with Kagawa Prefecture since 1988. It consists of a total of six two-storey bridges, whose lower floors are used by

1178-543: The Great Kantō earthquake , which heavily damaged Tokyo in September 1923; and the earthquake of March 2011 , which moved the northeastern part of the island by varying amounts of as much as 5.3 m (17 ft) while causing devastating tsunamis). The highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m (12,388 ft), which makes Honshu the world's 7th highest island . There are many rivers, including

1240-663: The Great Seto Bridge , which serves both railroad and automobile traffic. The International Hydrographic Organization 's definition of the limits of the Seto Inland Sea (published in 1953) is as follows: On the West. The southeastern limit of the Japan Sea [In Shimonoseki-kaikyo . A line running from Nagoya Saki (130°49'E) in Kyûsû through the islands of Uma Sima and Muture Simia (33°58',5N) to Murasaki Hana (34°01'N) in Honsyû ]. On

1302-563: The Inland Sea , is the body of water separating Honshu , Shikoku , and Kyushu , three of the four main islands of Japan . It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan . It connects to Osaka Bay and provides a sea transport link to industrial centers in the Kansai region , including Osaka and Kobe . Before the construction of the San'yō Main Line , it was

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1364-796: The Jōmon period . During the Nara period , the Suō Kokubun-ji was located in Hōfu. In the Edo Period , it was part of the holdings of Chōshū Domain . Following the Meiji Restoration , the area was divided into villages within Saba District, Yamaguchi , including the villages of Saba and Mitajiri with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The two villages merged to form

1426-728: The Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge ; Shimotsui-Seto Bridge , Hitsuishijima Bridge , Iwakurojima Bridge , Yoshima Bridge , Kita Bisan-Seto Bridge , and the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge ), the Seikan Tunnel connects Honshu with Hokkaidō, and the Kanmonkyo Bridge and Kanmon Tunnel connect Honshu with Kyūshū . These are notable flora and fauna of Honshu. Being on the Ring of Fire , the island of Honshu

1488-533: The Shinano River , Japan's longest. The Japanese Alps span the width of Honshu, from the 'Sea of Japan' coast to the Pacific shore. The climate is generally humid subtropical in western Japan and humid continental in the north. Honshu has a total population of 104 million people, according to a 2017 estimate, 81.3% of the entire population of Japan. The largest city is Tokyo (population: 13,988,129),

1550-582: The second-most populous after the Indonesian island of Java . Honshu had a population of 104 million as of 2017 , constituting 81.3% of the entire population of Japan, and mostly concentrated in the coastal areas and plains. Approximately 30% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area on the Kantō Plain . As the historical center of Japanese cultural and political power,

1612-575: The "island of olives", and the Naruto whirlpools are two other well-known tourist sites. Neighboring locations like Kotohira and Okayama are often combined with the tour of the Setouchi region. Some historic sites, including Yashima in Takamatsu and Kurashiki , also attract many visitors. Hiroshima is the neighbor city to Itsukushima Shrine and another UNESCO World Heritage Site because of atomic bomb damage in 1945. Idol Unit STU48 operate on

1674-767: The East ( Kii Suidô ). A line running from Takura Saki (34°16'N) in Honsyû to Oishi Hana in the island of Awazi , through this island to Sio Saki (34°11'N) and on to Oiso Saki in Sikoku . On the South ( Bungo Suidô ). A line joining Sada Misaki (33°20'N) in Sikoku and Seki Saki in Kyûsyû. The range of the Seto Inland Sea by the Territorial Sea Law ( 領海及び接続水域に関する法律 ) is 19,700 km (7,600 sq mi). The range of

1736-473: The Pacific. Development of land transportation shifted the travel between east and west — that is, between Honshū and Kyūshū — to railroad and road transport. Two coastal railways, San'yō Main Line in Honshū and Yosan Main Line, were built. Those railway lines stimulated the local economy and once invoked a rail mania. Many short railroads were planned to connect a certain station of those two lines and

1798-546: The Seto Inland Sea according to the Setouchi Law and the Setouchi Law Enforcement Order is 21,827 km (8,427 sq mi). The Seto Inland Sea is 450 km (280 mi) long from east to west. The width from south to north varies from 15 to 55 km (10 to 34 mi). In most places, the water is relatively shallow. The average depth is 38 m (125 ft); the greatest depth

1860-445: The Seto Inland Sea as transport line served four coastal areas: Kansai, Chūgoku, Shikoku, and eastern Kyūshū. The Seto Inland Sea provided each of these regions with local transportation and connected each region to the others and far areas, including the coastal area of the Sea of Japan, Korea, and China. After Kobe port was founded in 1868 to serve foreign ships, the Seto Inland Sea became a major international waterway with connection to

1922-415: The Seto Inland Sea is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Japan. Even before Japan opened to foreigners in the middle of the 19th century, the sea's beauty was praised and introduced to the Western world by those who visited Japan, including Philipp Franz von Siebold , and after the country's opening, Ferdinand von Richthofen and Thomas Cook . Its coastal area, except for Osaka Prefecture and

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1984-644: The Seto Inland Sea. The importance of water traffic gave rise to private navies in the region. In many documents, these navies were called suigun ( 水軍 , "water army") , or simply pirates. Sometimes they were considered to be public enemies, but in most cases they were granted the right to self-governance as a result of their strength. During the feudal period, suigun seized power in most coastal areas. The Kono in Iyo Province (today Ehime Prefecture ) and Kobayakawa (later Mōri ) in Aki Province (today

2046-466: The Seto Inland Sea. In the past, whales entered the sea to feed or breed, however because of whaling and pollution, they are rarely seen. During the last ice age , the sea level was lower than today. After the ice age, sea water poured into a basin between the Chūgoku mountains and Shikoku mountains and formed the Seto Inland Sea as it is known today. From ancient times, the Seto Inland Sea served as

2108-484: The West, close to Hiroshima, going from island to island, exploring the landscape, meeting and discussing with local people, as well as musing on Japanese culture, the nature of travel and of identity, and his own personal sense of identity. In 1991, filmmakers Lucille Carra and Brian Cotnoir produced a film version of Richie's book, which further explored the region through interviews and images photographed by Hiro Narita. Produced by Travelfilm Company and adapted by Carra,

2170-616: The Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Yamaguchi 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Hōfu was a port settlement and noted for its salt production in ancient times. In the early modern period, the area rapidly industrialized, with textile mills and large scale factories established on the site of the former salt farms and coastal areas. There are

2232-678: The Yamaguchi Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private junior high school and two private high schools. The private Yamaguchi Junior College is located in the city. [REDACTED] JR West (JR West) - San'yō Main Line This article about a location in Yamaguchi Prefecture is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Seto Inland Sea The Seto Inland Sea ( 瀬戸内海 , Seto Naikai ) , sometimes shortened to

2294-756: The bottom of this sea known as the Seto Inland Sea Mir. Author and literary critic Amy Chavez's The Widow, the Priest and the Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island is an account of the author's firsthand experience living among and interacting with the residents of Shiraishi. Honshu Honshu ( 本州 , Honshū , pronounced [hoꜜɰ̃ɕɯː] ; lit.   ' main island ' ) , historically called Akitsushima ( 秋津島 , lit.   ' Dragonfly island ' ) ,

2356-540: The capital of Japan and part of the Greater Tokyo Area , the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku by tunnels and bridges. Three bridge systems have been built across the islands of the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku ( Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Ōnaruto Bridge ; Shin-Onomichi Bridge , Innoshima Bridge , Ikuchi Bridge , Tatara Bridge , Ōmishima Bridge , Hakata–Ōshima Bridge , and

2418-714: The city. Yamaguchi Prefecture Hōfu has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is much higher in summer than in winter. The average annual temperature in Hōfu is 15.9 °C (60.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,653.7 mm (65.11 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.5 °C (81.5 °F), and lowest in January, at around 5.0 °C (41.0 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Hōfu

2480-527: The coast of present-day Takamatsu. In the Edo period , the Seto Inland Sea was one of the busiest transport lines in Japan. It was a part of a navigational route around Japan's islands via the Sea of Japan. Many ships navigated from its coastal areas to the area along the Sea of Japan. Major ports in the Edo period were Osaka, Sakai, Shimotsui, Ushimado , and Tomonoura. The Seto Inland Sea also served many daimyōs in

2542-697: The coast of the Seto Inland Sea include Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima. Smaller scale manufacturing and industry can also be found in Kurashiki , Kure , Fukuyama , and Ube in Honshū, and Sakaide , Imabari , and Niihama in Shikoku. Major industries include steel production, vehicle manufacture, ship building, textiles, and since the 1960s, oil refining and chemical products. Imabari Shipbuilding , Japan's largest ship building company, has its headquarters and some of its yards in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. Thanks to

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2604-719: The economy along the northwestern Sea of Japan coast is largely based on fishing and agriculture. The island is linked to the other three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. The island primarily shares two climates, with Northern Honshu having a mainly humid continental climate while the south has a humid subtropical climate . The name of the island, Honshū ( 本州 ) , directly translates to "main province" or "original land" in English. Humans first arrived in Honshu approximately 37,000 years ago, and likely earlier. The first humans to arrive in Honshu were Stone Age hunter-gatherers from Northeast Asia, likely following

2666-746: The film won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival (1991) and the Earthwatch Film Award. It screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992. Koushun Takami 's novel Battle Royale took place on a fictional island in the Seto Inland Sea. A critical plot element of the Japanese series Fafner in the Azure is an alien life form discovered at

2728-543: The importance of the Seto Inland Sea as a transport line. Remarkable land transportation innovations include the San'yō Main Railroad Line in Honshū and the Yosan Main Railroad Line in Shikoku (both completed before World War II ) and three series of bridges connecting Honshū and Shikoku (completed in the late 20th century). The Seto Inland Sea is still used, however, by an international cargo transport line and several local transport lines connecting Honshū with Shikoku and Kyūshū. Major cities with heavy industrial activity on

2790-460: The income of the daimyo , which was in the form of koku , giant bales of rice. The Seto Inland Sea was also part of the official Chosendentsushi route, bringing Korean emissaries to the shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration , the coastal cities along the Seto Inland Sea were rapidly industrialized. One of the headquarters of the Japanese Navy was built in the town of Kure . Since the Meiji period, development of land transport has been reducing

2852-486: The island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyōto , Nara , and Kamakura . Much of the island's southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt , a megalopolis that spans several of the Japanese islands. Honshu contains Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, and its largest lake, Lake Biwa . Most of Japan's industry is located in a belt running along Honshu's southern coast, from Tokyo to Nagoya , Kyōto , Osaka , Kobe , and Hiroshima ; by contrast,

2914-408: The main transportation link between Kansai and Kyūshū. Yamaguchi , Hiroshima , Okayama , Hyōgo , Osaka , Wakayama , Kagawa , Ehime , Tokushima , Fukuoka , and Ōita prefectures have coastlines on the Seto Inland Sea; the cities of Hiroshima , Iwakuni , Takamatsu , and Matsuyama are also located on it. The Setouchi region encompasses the sea and surrounding coastal areas. The region

2976-467: The meltdown of 3 nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant , leading to the Fukushima nuclear disaster . Honshu island generates around US$ 3.5 trillion or more than 80% of Japan's GDP . Fruit, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton make up the main produce grown in Honshu. The Tohoku region, spanning the north-eastern part of the island, is notable for its rice production, with 65% of cultivated land being rice paddy fields – almost

3038-458: The migration of ice age megafauna . Surviving artifacts from this period include finely-crafted stone blades, similar to those found in Siberia . Honshu was the target of devastating air raids during the Pacific War of World War II . The first air raid to strike Honshu and the other home islands was the Doolittle Raid . With the introduction of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress , the firebombing of Tokyo culminated in Operation Meetinghouse ,

3100-433: The moderate climate and beautiful landscape, fishing, agriculture, and tourism bring a lot of income to the area as well. Today the Seto Inland Sea serves its coastal areas mainly for two purposes: first, international or domestic cargo transportation, and second, local transportation between coastal areas and islands on the sea. Major ports are Kobe, Okayama, Takamatsu , Tokushima, Matsuyama, and Hiroshima. Historically,

3162-459: The most destructive air raid in human history, which destroyed 16 square miles (41 km ; 10,000 acres) of central Tokyo , leaving an estimated 100,000 civilians dead, and over one million homeless. The war ended with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly before Japan's surrender and signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on September 2, 1945, on board the USS  Missouri  (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay . The island

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3224-500: The most heavily used. The San'yō Shinkansen , connects the two largest cities in western Japan, Shin-Osaka in Osaka with Hakata Station in Fukuoka . Both the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Sanyo Shinkansen help form a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt megalopolis. The island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some smaller islands are included within these prefectures, notably including

3286-418: The open ocean at the surface. The Naruto Strait connects the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea to the Kii Channel , which in turn connects to the Pacific. The western part of the Seto Inland Sea connects to the Sea of Japan through the Kanmon Straits and to the Pacific through the Bungo Channel . Each part of the Seto Inland Sea has a separate name in Japanese. For example, Iyo-nada ( 伊予灘 ) refers to

3348-547: The railway ( Japan Railways Group ). The high speed Shinkansen does not go to or on Shikoku. This is the first of three intersections of the Seto Inland Sea. Construction started in 1975, but was fully completed in 1999. It connects the Nishiseto- Onomichi Highway in Hiroshima Prefecture with a total of ten bridges and several smaller islands with Imabari in Ehime Prefecture . Approximately 100,000 people live on those islands. The bridges are: Shin Onomichi Bridge, Innoshima Bridge , Ikuchi Bridge, Tatara Bridge , Ōmishima Bridge,

3410-421: The strait between Ehime, Yamaguchi, and Ōita prefectures in the western portion of the sea; Aki-nada ( 安芸灘 ) is the open expanse west of the Geiyo Islands , near Hiroshima prefecture; and Suō-nada ( 周防灘 ) refers to the expanse between Yamaguchi prefecture and Suō-Ōshima . These areas are sometimes styled Iyonada, Akinada, and Suonada. There are also many straits located between the major islands, as well as

3472-438: The town of Hōfu on January 1, 1902. Hōfu was elevated to city status on August 25, 1936. The city's change over the past fifty years is shown in the animated film Mai Mai Miracle , with its story taking place in the year of 1955 (with flashbacks going 1,000 years further back). Hōfu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 25 members. Hōfu contributes four members to

3534-549: The two Ōshima bridges and the three Kurushima Kaikyo bridges. The Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge connects the island of Ōshima to the main island of Shikoku . The Akinada Tobishima Kaido route connects seven of the western Geiyo Islands to mainland Honshu near Kure, Hiroshima . Seto Naikai Pilots Area provides compulsory maritime piloting for vessels over 10,000 tones, it was divided into sections of Bisanseto and sections of Kurushima , connecting Kanmon Channel Piloting Area and Osaka Bay Piloting Area. The coastal area of

3596-404: The west coast, spanning Niigata, Yamagata , and Akita Prefectures. Most of Japan's copper, lead, zinc and chromite is located on Honshu, along with smaller, scattered deposits of gold, silver, arsenic, sulfur and pyrite . The Tokaido Shinkansen , opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka , is Japan's first high-speed rail line. It is the world's oldest high-speed rail line and one of

3658-408: The western area of Japan as their route to and from Edo , to fulfill their obligations under sankin-kōtai . Many used ships from Osaka. Thanks to transport through the Seto Inland Sea, Osaka became the economic center of Japan. Each han had an office called Ozakayashiki in Osaka. These Ozakayashiki were among Japan's earliest forms of banks, facilitating domestic trade and helping to organize

3720-569: The western end of the Sea is Mimosusogawa Park ( ja:みもすそ川公園 ) in Shimonoseki . It commemorates the final stage of the Genpei war between the feudal Taira clan and Minamoto clan (1180–1185). Some sites along the Seto Inland Sea were featured in eighth-century Japanese literature, both in prose and in verse, including Kojiki , Nihon Shoki , and Man'yōshū . Since some sites were used as places of exile, their feeling and landscape were evoked in waka . In fiction, in The Tale of Genji , Genji fled from Kyoto and resided in Suma (now

3782-431: Was 37.7 °C (99.9 °F) on 11 August 2013; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −8.1 °C (17.4 °F) on 22 January 2004. Per Japanese census data, the population of Hōfu in 2020 is 113,979 people. Hōfu has been conducting censuses since 1920. The area of Hōfu was part of an ancient Suō Province , and the name "Hōfu" (防府) means "the capital (国 府 ) of Suō Province (周 防 国)". The area has been settled since

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3844-467: Was abolished. The main islands Honshū and Shikoku are connected by three series of bridges since the late 1980s. This improves land transportation between the connected islands. These series of bridges, collectively known as the Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project , are, from east to west, Akashi Kaikyo Bridge , Great Seto Bridge , and Nishiseto Expressway . The easternmost highway was built between 1976 and 1998. It leads from Akashi ( Hyōgo Prefecture ) on

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