The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating

Honshu , 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 list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

, and

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

, three of the four main islands 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 serves as a

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is ...

connecting the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to 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 ...

. It connects to Osaka Bay and provides a sea transport link to industrial centers in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

, including

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

. Before the construction of the San'yō Main Line, it was the main transportation link between Kansai and Kyūshū. Yamaguchi,

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 ...

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 ...

, Hyōgo,

, Wakayama, Kagawa, Ehime,

Tokushima is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 Square kilometre, km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture b ...

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

, and Ōita prefectures have coastlines on the Seto Inland Sea; the cities of

Iwakuni file:20100724 Iwakuni 5235.jpg, 270px, Kintai Bridge file:Iwakuni city center area Aerial photograph.2008.jpg, 270px, Iwakuni city center is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of ...

Takamatsu file:Takamatsu City Hall.jpg, 270px, Takamatsu City Hall file:Takamatsu city center area Aerial photograph.2007.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center file:Takamatsu200910cut.JPG, 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a capital ...

, and

Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...

are also located on it. The Setouchi region encompasses the sea and surrounding coastal areas. The region is known for its moderate climate, with a stable year-round temperature and relatively low rainfall levels. The sea experiences periodic red tides caused by dense groupings of certain

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater Aquatic ecosystem, ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), mea ...

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 the Great Seto Bridge, which serves both railroad and automobile traffic.

Extent

The

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) (French: ''Organisation Hydrographique Internationale'') is an intergovernmental organization representing hydrography. the IHO comprised 102 member states. A principal aim of the IHO is to ...

'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 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">Kyushu">Kyûsû through the islands of Uma Sima and Muture Simia (33°58',5N) to Murasaki Hana (34°01'N) in Honsyû/nowiki>. ''On 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 Shikoku">Sikoku. ''On the South (Bungo Channel">Bungo Suidô).'' A line joining Sada Misaki (33°20'N) in Sikoku and Seki Saki in Kyûsyû.

Geographical features

The Seto Inland Sea is long from east to west. The width from south to north varies from . In most places, the water is relatively shallow. The average depth is ; the greatest depth is . 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 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 The or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (, which contributed "Kan" () to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu ...

and to the Pacific through the Bungo Channel. Each part of the Seto Inland Sea has a separate name in Japanese. For example, refers to the strait between Ehime, Yamaguchi, and Ōita prefectures in the western portion of the sea; is the open expanse west of the

Geiyo Islands The are a group of islands in the Seto Inland Sea, under the administration of Hiroshima Prefecture and Ehime Prefecture. Some of the largest islands in the archipelago are connected by the Nishiseto Expressway bridge system connecting Honshu an ...

, near Hiroshima prefecture; and 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 a number of smaller ones that pass between islands or connect the Seto Inland Sea to other seas or the

Pacific 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 the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. 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.

Major islands

*Eastern part: Awaji Island, Shōdo Island, Ieshima Islands, Naoshima Islands, Shiwaku Islands, Yumeshima *Central part:

(including Ōmishima, Innoshima), Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima), Hinase Islands, Kasaoka Islands *Western part: Suō-Ōshima,

Uwakai Islands The is a limited express train service in Japan operated by JR Shikoku which runs from to . The ''Uwakai'' service was introduced on 21 November 1990. Route The main stations served by this service are as follows. - - () - - - - - R ...

, Hashira-jima Islands.

Fauna

Over 500 marine species are known to live in the Seto Inland Sea. Examples are the ayu, an amphidromous fish,

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only surviving xiphosurans. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or even crustaceans; they are chelicerates, more closely related to arachnids like spiders, ticks, and scor ...

, finless porpoise, and

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocea ...

, which has occasionally attacked people in the Seto Inland Sea. In the past,

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s entered the sea to feed or breed, however because of

whaling Whaling is the hunting of whales for their products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16t ...

and pollution, they are rarely seen.

History

During the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, the

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

was lower than today. After the ice age, sea water poured into a basin between the Chūgoku mountains and

mountains and formed the Seto Inland Sea as it is known today. From ancient times, the Seto Inland Sea served as a main transport line between its coastal areas, including what is today the

and

. 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 the Seto Inland Sea. The importance of water traffic gave rise to private navies in the region. In many documents, these navies were called , 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 was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa Province (Tokushima), Awa to the east ...

(today

Ehime Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

) and Kobayakawa (later Mōri) in Aki Province (today 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 Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

to the coastal village of Fukuhara (today

) to promote trade between Japan and the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

of China. This transfer was unsuccessful, and soon after Kyoto became the capital again. Later, the Battle of Yashima took place off the coast of present-day Takamatsu. In the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, 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 ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

s'' in the western area of Japan as their route to and from Edo, to fulfill their obligations under ''

sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' (, now commonly written as ) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period, created to control the daimyo, the feudal lords of Japan, politically, and to keep them from attempting to overthrow the regi ...

''. 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 the income of the ''daimyo'', which was in the form of ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'', 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 , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, 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 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

) 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.

Industry

Major cities with heavy industrial activity on 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 Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

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 the moderate climate and beautiful landscape, fishing, agriculture, and tourism bring a lot of income to the area as well.

Transport

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,

, Tokushima, Matsuyama, and Hiroshima. Historically, 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 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 a local seaport on the Seto Inland Sea, and some of them were actually built. The Ministry of Railroads, later the

Japanese National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

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 was abolished.

Highways and bridges

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.

Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Highway

The easternmost highway was built between 1976 and 1998. It leads from Akashi (

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 ...

) on the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (the second-longest

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

in the world) to Awaji Island, from there via the

Ōnaruto Bridge The is a suspension bridge that carries 4 lanes of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway connecting Minamiawaji, Hyogo on Awaji Island with Naruto, Tokushima on Ōge Island, Japan. Completed in 1985, it has a main span of . Although it is one ...

to Ōge-jima (

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

Tokushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 Square kilometre, km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture b ...

) beyond the 1.3-kilometer wide Naruto Strait and finally across the Muya Bridge to

Seto Chuo Highway

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 the railway (

Japan Railways Group The Japan Railways Group, commonly known as the or simply JR, is a network of railway companies in Japan formed after the Corporate spin-off, division and privatization of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. ...

). The high speed

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was initially built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond lon ...

does not go to or on Shikoku.

Nishiseto Highway / Shimanami Highway

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

. Approximately 100,000 people live on those islands. The bridges are: Shin Onomichi Bridge, Innoshima Bridge, Ikuchi Bridge, Tatara Bridge, Ōmishima Bridge, the two Ōshima bridges and the three Kurushima Kaikyo bridges. The Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge connects the island of Ōshima to the main island of

Other bridges

The Akinada Tobishima Kaido route connects seven of the western

to mainland Honshu near

Kure, Hiroshima is a Cities of Japan, city in the Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 208,024 in 106,616 households and a population density of 590 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . With a strong industrial and ...

Maritime

Seto Naikai Pilots Area provides compulsory

maritime pilot A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who has specific knowledge of an often dangerous or congested waterway, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots know local details s ...

ing 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.

Major tourist sites

The coastal area of the Seto Inland Sea is one Japan's major tourist destinations. Even before the country 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 Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveller. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

, and after the country's opening, Ferdinand von Richthofen and

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an appren ...

. Its coastal area, except for

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

and a part of

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

, was appointed the 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 World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

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 ...

, nicknamed the "island of olives", and the Naruto whirlpools are two other well-known tourist sites. Neighboring locations like Kotohira and

are often combined with the tour of the Setouchi region. Some historic sites, including Yashima in

and Kurashiki, also attract many visitors.

is the neighbor city to Itsukushima Shrine and another UNESCO World Heritage Site because of

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

damage in 1945. Idol Unit STU48 operate on a cruise on the Setuchi. The eastern end of the Sea hosts the Setouchi Triennale art festival, which was inaugurated in 2010. Some events take 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 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, is on the island of Sanuki Hiroshima. In the central area of Seto Inland Sea is Mount Ishizuchi on

. It is the highest mountain in western Japan and the highest mountain on

. In the western end of the Sea is Mimosusogawa Park in

Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...

. It commemorates the final stage of the

Genpei war The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yori ...

between the feudal

Taira clan The was one of the four most important Japanese clans, clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period, Heian period of History of Japan, Japanese history – the others being the Minamoto clan, Minamoto, the Fujiwara clan, Fuji ...

and

Minamoto clan was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...

(1180–1185).

Literature

Some sites along the Seto Inland Sea were featured in eighth-century Japanese literature, both in prose and in verse, including , , and . Since some sites were used as places of exile, their feeling and landscape were evoked in waka. In fiction, in ''

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

'', Genji fled from Kyoto and resided in Suma (now a part of

) and Akashi for two years. In medieval literature, because of the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yori ...

, 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 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, 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.NY Times review
/ref>

Koushun Takami is a Japanese author and journalist. He is best known for his 1999 in literature, 1999 novel ''Battle Royale (novel), Battle Royale'', which was later adapted into two Battle Royale (film), live-action films, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and fo ...

'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 a Japanese mecha anime franchise created by Xebec in collaboration with Starchild Records. The story focuses on a group of children who pilot the titular Fafners in an escalating war against giant aliens called Festum. The first ...

'' is an alien life form discovered at 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.

References

External links

Seto Inland Sea National Park Official site

Setonaikai National Park
- by JNTO * {{Authority control Seas of Japan Seas of the Pacific Ocean Landforms of Ehime Prefecture Landforms of Yamaguchi Prefecture Landforms of Hiroshima Prefecture Landforms of Okayama Prefecture Bodies of water of Hyōgo Prefecture Landforms of Fukuoka Prefecture Landforms of Ōita Prefecture Landforms of Kagawa Prefecture