File:Awaji-island_1.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Location
- Seto Inland Sea
- Area
- 592.17 km (228.64 sq mi)
- Length
- 53 km (32.9 mi)
- Width
- 28 km (17.4 mi)
- Highest elevation
- 606 m (1988 ft)
- Prefecture
- Hyōgo Prefecture
- Population
- 129,000 (2019)
- Pop density
- 265/km (686/sq mi)
- Ethnic groups
- Japanese
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- island
- Country
- Japan
- Located in
- Hyōgo Prefecture
- Capital
- Sumoto
- Population
- 157000
- Area
- 592
- Elevation
- 606
- Time zone
- UTC+09:00
- Body of water
- Seto Inland Sea
- Highest point
- Mount Yuzuruha
- Location
- Seto Inland Sea
- Image
- Awaji-island 1.png
- Width
- 24
- Length
- 54
Show 4 more facts
- Commons category
- Awaji Island
- topic's main category
- Category:Awaji Island
- native label
- 淡路島
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Awaji Island (淡路島, Awaji-shima) is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 square kilometres (228.64 square miles). It is the largest island of the Seto Inland Sea.
Some scholars, such as Motoori Norinaga, have claimed that the name means "the road to Awa (阿波)", the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait (now part of Tokushima Prefecture), although this etymology is disputed. Others, including Tsugita Uruu [ja], have interpreted the historical meaning of awa as 粟 "millet", due to a story where the kami Sukunabikona climbs a millet stalk on the island, as told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki; in these books, the island is referred to as Awaji no Honosawake no Shima (淡道之穂之狭別嶋（あはぢのほのさわけのしま）) – referencing the Japanese creation myth, where it was the first island created in Japan – and Awaji-shima (淡路洲), respectively.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Awaji Island” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.