The , also called the Kii Strait,
is a
strait separating the Japanese island of
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'' (), '' ...
from the
Kii Peninsula on the main island of
Honshū. This strait connects the
Inland Sea with the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
.
The name of the strait derives from
Kii Province
, or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...
, a former province on the Kii Peninsula.
The strait is surrounded by
Tokushima Prefecture on Shikoku,
Wakayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...
on Honshū, and the southern coast of
Awaji Island in
Hyōgo Prefecture. It is connected to
Osaka Bay
Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. ...
via the
Kitan Strait
The or separates Awaji Island from Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan and connects the Osaka Bay in the north to the Kii Channel in the south. The total width is 11 km, but the islands of Tomogashima reduce the distance to be spanned ...
and to
Harima Nada (the eastern part of the Inland Sea) by the
Naruto Strait
is a strait between Awaji Island and Shikoku in Japan. It connects Harima Nada, the eastern part of the Inland Sea and the Kii Channel. A famous feature of the strait is the Naruto whirlpools. Ōnaruto Bridge, the southern part of the Kobe-A ...
.
Western maps from the 19th century also refer to this waterway as the Linschoten Strait.
[Taylor, Bayard. ''Japan, In Our Day''. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co, 1872. Preface map.]
References
Straits of Japan
Landforms of Hyōgo Prefecture
{{Wakayama-geo-stub