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The Ch?goku region (中国地方, Ch?goku-chih??) or San'in-San'y? region (山陰山陽地方, San'in san'y?-chih??) is the westernmost region of Honsh?, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori, and Okayama.

History

The name literally means "middle country", a relic of a historical division of Japan into "near countries" (近国 kingoku, but in modern parlance Kinki), "middle countries" (ch?goku), and "far countries" (遠国 ongoku), based on distance from the capital Nara or Kyoto. Strictly speaking, today's Ch?goku covers only the middle countries to the west of Kyoto, along the San'ind? (山陰道) and San'y?d? (山陽道) roads.

In Japanese, the characters 中国 and the reading Ch?goku are also used to mean "China" (more precisely, the People's Republic of China since the Republic of China is commonly referred to as "Taiwan" in Japanese). The same characters are used in Chinese to refer to China, but pronounced Zh?ngguo lit. "Middle Kingdom" or "Middle Country" (Wade Giles: Chungkuo).

To avoid confusing "Ch?goku region" with China, the Ch?goku region is also called the "San'in-San'y? region". San'in is the northern part facing the Sea of Japan, which indicates the "shady side of the mountain". San'y? is the southern part facing the Inland Sea, which indicates the "sunny side of the mountain". These names originated from the marked differences in climate.

Outline

The Ch?goku region consists of the following prefectures: Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane and Tottori. Okayama is commonly included, although only Bitch? Province was considered a Middle Country, Mimasaka Province and Bizen Province, the other two components of modern-day Okayama, were considered Near Countries.

The Ch?goku 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.

The city of Hiroshima, the "capital" of the Ch?goku 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 and pollution reduced the productivity of the Inland Sea fishing grounds, and the area concentrated on heavy industry. San'in, however, is less industrialized and relies on agriculture.

Ky?sh? and Kansai neighbor the Ch?goku region.

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