page_title: Seto Inland Sea
section_title: Geographical features
hierarchical_section_title: Seto Inland Sea / Geographical features
caption_attribution_description: Setonaikai landscape,Suo Oshima
context_page_description: The Seto Inland Sea, also known as Setouchi or often shortened to Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the five main islands of Japan. The region that includes the Seto Inland Sea and the coastal areas of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū is known as the Setouchi Region. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Bay and provides a sea transport link to industrial centers in the Kansai region, including Osaka and Kobe. Before the construction of the San'yō Main Line, it was the main transportation link between Kansai and Kyūshū.
  Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Okayama, Hyōgo, Osaka, Wakayama, Kagawa, Ehime, Tokushima, Fukuoka, and Ōita prefectures all have coastlines on the Seto Inland Sea; the cities of Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Takamatsu, and Matsuyama are also located on it.
  The Setouchi region is known for its moderate climate, with a stable year-round temperature and relatively low rainfall levels. The sea is famous for its periodic red tides caused by dense groupings of certain phytoplankton that result in the death of large numbers of fish.
context_section_description: The Seto Inland Sea is 450 km (280 mi) long from east to west. The width from south to north varies from 15 to 55 km (10 to 34 mi). In most places, the water is relatively shallow. The average depth is 38 m (125 ft); the greatest depth is 105 m (344 ft).
  Hydrologically, Setouchi 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 and to the Pacific through the Bungo Channel.
  Each part of the Seto Inland Sea has a separate name in Japanese. For example, Iyo-nada (伊予灘) refers to the strait between Ehime, Yamaguchi, and Ōita prefectures in the western portion of the sea; Aki-nada (安芸灘) is the open expanse west of the Geiyo Islands, near Hiroshima prefecture; and Suō-nada (周防灘) refers to the expanse between Yamaguchi prefecture and Suō-Ōshima. 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. 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.
caption: The beauty of the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, Suo-Oshima, Yamaguchi Prefecture
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