The , also known as the region, is the westernmost

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 largest

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

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 prefectures of

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, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 7,328,339.

History

''Chūgoku'' literally means "middle country", but the origin of the name is unclear. Historically, Japan was divided into a number of

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

called ''koku'', which were in turn classified according to both their power and their distances from the administrative center in Kansai. Under the latter classification, most provinces are divided into , , and . Therefore, one explanation is that ''Chūgoku'' was originally used to refer to the collection of "middle countries" to the west of the capital. However, only five (fewer than half) of the provinces normally considered part of Chūgoku region were in fact classified as middle countries, and the term never applied to the many middle countries to the east of Kansai. Therefore, an alternative explanation is that ''Chūgoku'' referred to provinces between Kansai and Kyūshū, which was historically important as the link between Japan and mainland Asia. Historically, ''Chūgoku'' referred to the 16 provinces of and , which led to the region's alternative name described below. However, because some of the easternmost provinces were later subsumed into prefectures based primarily in Kansai, those areas are, strictly speaking, not part of the Chūgoku region in modern usage. In Japanese, the characters and the reading ''Chūgoku'' began to be used to mean "

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

" after the founding of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The same characters are used in Chinese to refer to China, but pronounced ''Zhōngguó'' in Mandarin, lit. "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle Country" ( Wade Giles: ''Chung¹-kuo²''). It is similar to the use of the West Country in English for a region of England. However, before the end of the

Second World War 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 ...

, China was more commonly called in order to avoid confusing the Chūgoku region. Due to the extensive use of this word during the Sino-Japanese War, the term ''shina'' has become an offensive word and was abandoned thereafter, and ''Chūgoku'' has since then been used instead of ''shina''. In modern times, primarily in the tourism industry, for the same purpose, the Chūgoku region is also called the "San'in‐San'yō region". San'in ("yin of the mountains") is the northern part facing 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 ...

. San'yō ("yang of the mountains") is the southern part facing the Seto Inland Sea. These names were created using the ''yin'' and ''yang''‐based place‐naming scheme. The city of

, the "capital" of the Chūgoku region, was rebuilt after being destroyed by an atomic bomb in 1945, and is now an industrial metropolis of more than one million people.

Overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

and

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

reduced the productivity of the Inland Sea fishing grounds; and San'yo is an area concentrated on

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

. In contrast, San'in is less industrialized with an agricultural economy.

Geography

The Chūgoku region consists of the following prefectures:

, Yamaguchi, Shimane, and Tottori. Okayama is also included, although only Bitchū Province was considered a "middle country" (中国); Mimasaka Province and Bizen Province, the other two components of modern-day Okayama, were considered "near countries" (近国). Kyūshū,

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 Kansai neighbor the Chūgoku region. The Chūgoku region is characterized by irregular rolling hills and limited plain areas and is divided into two distinct parts by mountains running east and west through its center.

Demographics

The two largest metropolitan areas in Chūgoku region are

and Okayama whose total population of the two metropolitan areas amount to 2.808 million as of 2020. Their Urban Employment Area amounts to around 3 million people for the Chūgoku region. The rest of Chūgoku region is sparsely populated and very rural. Per Japanese census data,Chūgoku region 1920-2000 population statistics
/ref> the Chūgoku region as a whole has experienced a steady population decline since 1992, with some prefectures within the region experiencing declines since 1985. The region reached a peak population of roughly 7.8 million in 1991.

Cities

;Designated cities *

(population: 1,200,000) * Okayama (population: 720,000) File:Hiroshima-beautiful view to the city and Inland sea - panoramio.jpg, Hiroshima City File:Okayama Station west side - panoramio.jpg, Okayama City ;Core cities * Kurashiki (population: 480,000) * Fukuyama (population: 460,000) * Shimonoseki (population: 260,000) * Kure (population: 220,000) * Matsue (population: 210,000) * Tottori (population: 200,000) File:Kurashiki - panoramio - Nagono.jpg, Kurashiki City File:1 Chome-8 Marunouchi, Fukuyama-shi, Hiroshima-ken 720-0061, Japan - panoramio (2).jpg, Fukuyama City File:Station square of Shimonoseki station 01.JPG, Shimonoseki City File:呉駅前 Around the Kure station - panoramio.jpg, Kure City File:R01-matsue-at-night.jpg, Matsue City File:Tottori castle08 1920.jpg, Tottori City ;Other major cities * Yamaguchi (population: 200,000) File:View in front of south entrance of Shin-Yamaguchi Station 2.jpg, Yamaguchi City

Sightseeing

* Hiroshima Prefecture:

, Miyajima, Fukuyama, Onomichi * Okayama Prefecture: Okayama, Kurashiki, Takahashi, Tsuyama, Niimi, Bizen, Tamano * Shimane Prefecture: Tsuwano, Izumo, Matsue, Iwami Ginzan * Tottori Prefecture: Tottori, Misasa, Daisen, Kurayoshi * Yamaguchi Prefecture: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi,

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 ...

, Hofu, Hagi, Akiyoshidai

Fiction

* Lian Hearn used a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

Chūgoku (translated as the ''Middle Country'') as the setting for her '' Tales of the Otori'' trilogy. * In '' B. Ichi'', Chūgoku is referred to as "the land of martial arts".

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * Tony Gibb ''By Bike around Chugoku''

External links

Information about Chugoku and Seto Inland Sea regions

Into You WEST JAPAN Chugoku
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chugoku Region