Kagawa香川県

The Seto Inland Sea, dotted with 116 islands. Kotohira-gu Shrine is a center of worship.

Kagawa is situated in the northeastern part of Shikoku. The Sanuki Mountain Range, a chain of 1,000-meter-high mountains including Mt. Ryuo-zan, the highest of all at some 1,060 meters above sea level, runs through the southern part of the prefecture. The Sanuki Plains stretch out to the north, and the Seto Inland Sea is dotted with 116 islands of all sizes, including Shodo-shima Island.

Since early times, Kagawa has been known for the production of cotton, sugar and salt, together called "Sanuki Sanpaku," or Sanuki Three Whites. Takamatsu City, which was a castle town in the Feudal Age, prospered as an important center of transportation for these products.

The Bisan-Seto Sea area, with its 690-kilometer-long coastline fronting the Sea of Japan and a variety of islands sitting in the serene waters, boasts of natural scenery so beautiful that it was designated as Japan's first national park in 1934. Kotohira-gu Shrine, intimately nicknamed "Konpira-san" by the local people, drew many visitors as a center of worship for common people from the 17th through 19th centuries. Today, about four million people a year visit the shrine.

Shodo-shima Island, known as the place where olive cultivation started in Japan, has beautiful valleys such as Choshikei and Kankakei, Shodoshima Olive Park that resembles a location along the shore of the Mediterranean, and many other interesting places worth visiting.