The , also known as the region, is the westernmost
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of
Honshū, the largest
island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. It consists of the prefectures of
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
,
Okayama,
Shimane
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
,
Tottori, and
Yamaguchi. In 2010, it had a population of 7,563,428.
History
''Chūgoku'' literally means "middle country", but the origin of the name is unclear. Historically, Japan was divided into a number of
provinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
called ''koku'', which were in turn classified according to both their power and their distances from the administrative center in
Kansai. Under the latter classification, most provinces are divided into , , and . Therefore, one explanation is that ''Chūgoku'' was originally used to refer to the collection of "middle countries" to the west of the capital. However, only five (fewer than half) of the provinces normally considered part of Chūgoku region were in fact classified as middle countries, and the term never applied to the many middle countries to the east of Kansai. Therefore, an alternative explanation is that ''Chūgoku'' referred to provinces between Kansai and
Kyūshū, which was historically important as the link between Japan and mainland Asia.
Historically, ''Chūgoku'' referred to the 16 provinces of and , which led to the region’s alternative name described below. However, because some of the easternmost provinces were later subsumed into prefectures based primarily in Kansai, those areas are, strictly speaking, not part of the Chūgoku region in modern usage.
In
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, the characters and the reading ''Chūgoku'' began to be used to mean "
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
" after the founding of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
. The same
characters
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
are used in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
to refer to China, but pronounced ''Zhōngguó'', lit. "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle Country" (
Wade Giles
Wade, WADE, or Wades may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Wade, California, a former settlement
* Wade, Maine, a town
* Wade, Mississippi, a census-designated place
* Wade, North Carolina, a town
* Wade, Ohio, an unincorporated commun ...
: ''Chung
1-kuo
2''). It is similar to the use of the
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...
in English for a region of England.
The city of
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, the "capital" of the Chūgoku region, was rebuilt after
being destroyed by an
atomic bomb
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
in 1945, and is now an industrial metropolis of more than one million people.
Since the founding of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
to the end of
WW2
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, China was called in order to avoid confusing the Chūgoku region. Due to the extensive use of this word during the
Sino-Japanese War, the term ''shina'' has become an
offensive word and was abandoned thereafter, and ''Chūgoku'' has since then been used instead of ''shina''. In modern times, primarily in the tourism industry, for the same purpose, the Chūgoku region is also called the "San'in‐San'yō region".
San'in
The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan.
Etymology
The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. T ...
("yīn of the
mountains") is the northern part facing the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
.
San'yō ("yáng of the mountains") is the southern part facing the
Seto Inland Sea. These names were created using
the ''yin'' and ''yang''‐based place‐naming scheme.
Overfishing and
pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
reduced the productivity of the Inland Sea fishing grounds; and
San'yo is an area concentrated on
heavy industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
. In contrast,
San'in
The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan.
Etymology
The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. T ...
is less industrialized with an
agricultural economy
Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products.
Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that speci ...
.
Geography
![Chugoku Region Japan 2018](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Chugoku_Region_Japan_2018.png)
The Chūgoku region consists of the following prefectures:
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
,
Yamaguchi,
Shimane
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...
, and
Tottori.
Okayama is also included, although only
Bitchū Province
was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, in what is today western Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bingo Provinces; those three provinces were settled in the late 7th Century, dividing fo ...
was considered a Middle Country;
Mimasaka Province
or was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today northeastern Okayama Prefecture. Mimasaka bordered Bitchū, Bizen, Harima, Hōki, and Inaba Provinces.
Mimasaka was landlocked, and was often ruled by the ''daimyō'' in Bize ...
and
Bizen Province, the other two components of modern-day Okayama, were considered Near Countries.
Kyūshū,
Shikoku
is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...
, and
Kansai neighbor the Chūgoku region.
The Chūgoku region is characterized by irregular rolling hills and limited plain areas and is divided into two distinct parts by mountains running east and west through its center.
Demographics
The two largest metropolitan areas in Chūgoku region are
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
and
Okayama whose total population of the two metropolitan areas amount to 2.808 million as of 2020.
Their
Urban Employment Area
is a definition of metropolitan areas used in Japan, defined by the Center for Spatial Information Service of the University of Tokyo. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry defined 233 areas for the UEAs of Japan. It is different from ...
amounts to around 3 million people for the Chūgoku region. The rest of Chūgoku region is sparsely populated and very rural.
Per Japanese census data,
Chūgoku region 1920-2000 population statistics
/ref> Chūgoku region as a whole has experienced a steady population decline since 1992 with some prefectures within the region experiencing the decline since 1985. The region reached a peak population of roughly 7.8 million in 1991.
Cities
;Designated cities
*Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
(population: 1,200,000)
* Okayama (population: 720,000)
File:Hiroshima-beautiful view to the city and Inland sea - panoramio.jpg, Hiroshima City
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui ha ...
File:Okayama Station west side - panoramio.jpg, Okayama City
is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is .
The city i ...
;Core cities
*Kurashiki
is a historic city located in western Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density of 1,400 persons per ...
(population: 480,000)
* Fukuyama (population: 460,000)
*Shimonoseki
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...
(population: 260,000)
*Kure
is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan ...
(population: 220,000)
*Matsue
is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 202,008 (February 1, 2021) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District.
Matsue is located ...
(population: 210,000)
* Tottori (population: 200,000)
File:Kurashiki - panoramio - Nagono.jpg, Kurashiki City
File:1 Chome-8 Marunouchi, Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima-ken 720-0061, Japan - panoramio (2).jpg, Fukuyama City
File:Station square of Shimonoseki station 01.JPG, Shimonoseki City
File:呉駅前 Around the Kure station - panoramio.jpg, Kure City
File:R01-matsue-at-night.jpg, Matsue City
File:Tottori castle08 1920.jpg, Tottori City
;Other major cities
* Yamaguchi (population: 200,000)
File:View in front of south entrance of Shin-Yamaguchi Station 2.jpg, Yamaguchi City
Sightseeing
* Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
, Miyajima may refer to:
Places
* Miyajima, another name for the Japanese island Itsukushima
* Miyajima, Hiroshima, a former town on this island, merged into Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima
is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The name derives from a ...
, Fukuyama, Onomichi
is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total a ...
* Okayama Prefecture: Okayama, Kurashiki
is a historic city located in western Okayama Prefecture, Japan, sitting on the Takahashi River, on the coast of the Inland Sea. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density of 1,400 persons per ...
, Takahashi
is the third most common Japanese surname. Less common variants include , , , , , , , and . Notable people with the surname include:
* Aaron Takahashi, American actor
* , Japanese singer and actress
* , Japanese kickboxer
* , Japanese classica ...
, Tsuyama
is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 102,294 and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area was 185.73 km². The area increased in 2005 as the result of a merger with adjacent t ...
, Niimi
is a city located in northwestern Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 30,583 (14,628 males, 15,955 females), with 12,857 households and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total a ...
, Bizen, Tamano
is a city located in southern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The city was officially founded on August 3, 1940. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 60,101 and a population density of 580 persons per km². The total area i ...
* Shimane Prefecture: Tsuwano
is a town located in Kanoashi District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. As of March 2017, the town has an estimated population of 7,478 and a density of 25.0 persons per km². The total area is 307.09 km².
Description
Tsuwano is remotely locate ...
, Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to:
Locations
* Izumo Province, an old province of Japan
* Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture
** Izumo Airport
* Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines
Ships
* ''Izumo ...
, Matsue
is the capital city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 202,008 (February 1, 2021) following the merger with Higashiizumo from Yatsuka District.
Matsue is located ...
, Iwami Ginzan
* Tottori Prefecture: Tottori, Misasa
is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori, Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is also home to the official treasure of Sanbutsu-ji, the Misasa Onsen, and Okayama Hospital.
The name "Misasa" (literally "t ...
, Daisen, Kurayoshi
is a city located in the central part of Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 48,558 and a population density of 180 persons per km², making it the third largest city in Tottori. The total a ...
* Yamaguchi Prefecture: Shimonoseki
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...
, Yamaguchi, Iwakuni, Hofu, Hagi, Akiyoshidai
Fiction
* Lian Hearn
Gillian Rubinstein (born 29 August 1942) is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As w ...
used a feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
Chūgoku (translated as the ''Middle Country'') as the setting for her ''Tales of the Otori
Tales of the Otori is a series of historical fantasy novels by Gillian Rubinstein, writing under the pen name Lian Hearn, set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan. The series initially consisted of a trilogy: '' Across the Nightingale ...
'' trilogy.
* In ''B. Ichi
is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Ohkubo and serialized in ''Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' in 2001–2002. Set in the city of Toykyo, the series focuses on humans known as "Dokeshi", whose abilities to use more than 50% of thei ...
'', Chugoku is referred to as "the land of martial arts".
See also
* Geography of Japan
Japan is an archipelagic country comprising a stratovolcanic archipelago over along the Pacific coast of East Asia. It consists of 6,852 islands. The five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku and Okinawa. There are 6,847 remote ...
* List of regions in Japan
* Names of China
* San'in region
The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan.
Etymology
The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. The ...
* San'yō region
The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny (' ...
* Chūgoku dialect
The is a group of the Japanese dialects spoken in most of the Chūgoku region and in the northwestern Kansai region. It may be separated into two groups according to the form of the copula.
* copula ''ja'' group (San'yō region)
** Aki also kno ...
and Umpaku dialect
The is a group of Japanese dialects spoken in central San'in region, San'in. The name ''Unpaku'' (雲伯) is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from ''Izumo Province, Izumo'' (出雲) and ''Hōki Province, Hōki'' (伯耆), the nam ...
References
Bibliography
*
* Tony Gibb ''By Bike around Chugoku''
External links
Information about Chugoku and Seto Inland Sea regions
Into You WEST JAPAN Chugoku
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chugoku Region