| Kanmon Straits | |
|---|---|
| |
 Kanmon Straits viewed from space and rotated 90°, with Honshu at the top and Kyushu at the bottom | |
  Kanmon Straits | |
| Coordinates | 33°56′49″N 130°56′48″E / 33.94694°N 130.94667°E |
| Type | Strait |
| Islands | |
The Kanmon Straits (関門海峡, Kanmon-kaikyō) or the Straits of Shimonoseki is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan's four main islands. On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki (下関, which contributed "Kan" (関) to the name of the strait) and on the Kyushu side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward, Moji (門司), gave the strait its "mon" (門). The straits silt up at the rate of about 15 centimetres per annum, and dredging has made it possible to build the Kitakyushu Airport at low cost.
Western maps from the 19th century also refer to this waterway as the Straits of Van der Capellen.[1]
- ^ Taylor, Bayard. Japan, In Our Day. New York: Scribner, Armstrong, and Co, 1872. Preface map.