is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and port in Shōzu District,

Kagawa may refer to: * , the smallest prefecture of Japan by area, located on the island of Shikoku * , a district in Kagawa Prefecture * , a town located in Kagawa District * , train station in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture * Kagawa (surname) Kagawa (w ...

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 ...

, with a population of 12,915. The town lies on the west coast of the island of

Shōdoshima Shōdoshima or is an island located in the Seto Inland Sea, Inland Sea of Japan. The name means "Island of Azuki bean, Small Beans". There are two towns on the island: Tonoshō, Kagawa, Tonoshō and Shodoshima, Kagawa, Shōdoshima, composing the ...

—the second-largest island in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, 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 ...

—and it is the main passenger access for the island. First settled around the 8th century, the town center grew into a complex maze of streets during the war-torn

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

(1336–1573) to inhibit enemy forces. The town was officially incorporated in 1898, and today sesame oil, olives, ''

sōmen , ''somyeon'' ( ko, 소면; 素麵), or ''sùmiàn'' () is a very thin noodle made of wheat flour, less than 1.3 mm in diameter. The noodles are used extensively in East Asian cuisines. Japanese ''sōmen'' is made by stretching the dough ...

'' noodles, fishing and tourism are important industries. The town's jurisdiction totals 74.38 km², covering historic Tonoshō and smaller settlements on western Shōdoshima, as well as

Teshima is an island located in the inland sea of Japan, between Naoshima and Shōdoshima islands, and is part of Kagawa Prefecture. It has an area of and a population of about 1,000 people. Teshima is one of the locations of the Setouchi Triennale, ...

, Odeshima, and other nearby islands. The town is known as the setting of the manga and anime ''

Teasing Master Takagi-san is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Sōichirō Yamamoto. The series features the daily life of Takagi, who loves to tease her classmate Nishikata, and Nishikata's failed attempts to get back at her. In North America, the ...

'' and is the creator's hometown. Tonoshō also participates in the regional

Setouchi Triennale The Setouchi International Art Triennale is a contemporary art festival held every three years on several islands in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan and the coastal cities of Takamatsu and Tamano is a city located in southern Okayama Prefecture, J ...

art festival, and several art installations are found in the area.

Notable locations

Modern Tonoshō includes all of western Shodoshima, Teshima, and surrounding islands. * Angel Road, a 500-meter-long sandbar that appears during low tide, connecting Shodoshima with a series of small islets *Chōshi Gorge *Dofuchi Strait, the narrowest strait in the world *

, a large island to the west

Notable people

* Sōichirō Yamamoto, a Japanese manga artist and the creator of ''

Gallery

File:土渕海峽.jpg, Dofuchi Strait File:Choshikei01s3200.jpg, Monkeys at Chōshi Gorge File:Tonosho port05s3200.jpg, Port of Tonoshō at night

References

External links

Angel Road - GaijinPot Travel

Notable Locations in Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san
(in Japanese) * (in Japanese) Towns in Kagawa Prefecture {{Kagawa-geo-stub