The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

, the main island of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to 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 Ba ...

. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny ('' yō'') side of the mountains" and contrasts with the '' San'in'' or "northern, shady ('' in'') side of the mountains". The region is generally considered to include the prefectures of

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

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 has b ...

and Yamaguchi. Sometimes, the section of

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

that formerly comprised

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During th ...

is considered to be within the region as well. The ''San'yō'' encompasses the pre-Meiji provincial areas of Harima, Mimasaka, Bizen, Bitchu, Bingo, Aki, Suō and Nagato.

Transport

The region is served by the

San'yō Main Line The is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The San'yō Shi ...

and

Sanyō Shinkansen is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bus ...

Demographics

The San'in subregion is a subregion of Chūgoku region that composes of the prefectures of Shimane, Tottori, and sometimes the northern portion of Yamaguchi Prefecture. The northern portion of Yamaguchi Prefecture composes of Abu, Hagi, and Nagato. The San'yo subregion is a subregion of Chūgoku region and is composed of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, and Yamaguchi in its entirety. Per Japanese census data, and,San'yo subregion 1920–2000 population statistics
/ref> the San'yo subregion has had positive population growth throughout the 20th century and negative population growth since the beginning of 21st century.

Citations

General and cited references

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan Encyclopedia''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

.
OCLC 58053128
* Titsingh, Isaac (1834). ''

Nihon Odai Ichiran Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in t ...

; ou
Annales des empereurs du Japon
'. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. .

External links

at Japan-Guide.com Chūgoku region Geography of Hiroshima Prefecture Geography of Okayama Prefecture Geography of Yamaguchi Prefecture Regions of Japan {{Yamaguchi-geo-stub

Transport

Demographics

See also

Citations

General and cited references

External links