is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and port in Shōzu District, Kagawa,

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 ...

, 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 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 ...

—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 , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

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

sōmen , ''somyeon'' (), 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 with vegetable oil, ...

'' 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, 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. It started in Shogakukan's manga magazine supplement ''Monthly Shōnen Sunday Mini'' in June 2013, and later moved to the main magazine, ''Monthly Shōnen ...

'' 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. The festival was inaugurated in 2010 with the aim of ...

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

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tonoshō has roughly halved over the past half-century.

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 * Teshima, 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