Yamaguchi山口県

The Little Kyoto of the San'in region features storehouses that display unique architecture. A long history of cultural exchange with the Korean Peninsula.

Yamaguchi is situated on the westernmost tip of Honshu. Because of its geographical location and ocean current, it has long had cultural exchanges with the Korean Peninsula.

The Boyo-shoto Islands, that are strung between Yamaguchi and Ehime, belong to Seto Inland Sea National Park. Various islands on the moderate inland sea, a winding coastline, white sand and green pine trees are mingled among terraced fields and houses, creating attractive scenery.

Hagi, which overlooks the Sea of Japan, is a former castle town of Hagi Castle, established in the early 17th century. The city is also known as the "Little Kyoto of the San'in region," and it still features ancient paths and storehouses with walls covered with square tiles jointed with raised plaster, a style known as 'namako.'

Yamaguchi City is situated in the center of the prefecture. Since it imitated Kyoto, the then capital of Japan in the mid-14th century, it was called the "Kyoto of the West," and the city prospered. Every summer the Yamaguchi Gion-matsuri Festival is held there, an event that echoes Kyoto's famous Gion-matsuri Festival.

Shimonoseki, situated on the westernmost tip of the prefecture, faces the island of Kyushu's Moji Port with the Kanmon Strait in between, and is connected to the neighboring island by the 3,461-meter-long Kanmon Tunnel (780 meters of which runs beneath the sea).