Kanmon Straits

The Kanmon Straits are a narrow waterway between Honshu and Kyushu, Japan, linking the Sea of Japan with the Seto Inland Sea.

Kanmon Tunnel: A road and rail tunnel system running beneath the Kanmon Straits. It carries road traffic and trains between Honshu and Kyushu below the waterway.
Seto Inland Sea: A sea in southwestern Japan, enclosed by Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The Kanmon Straits form its western entrance from the Sea of Japan.
Battle of Dan-no-ura: A decisive naval battle in 1185 that ended the Genpei War and established Minamoto rule in Japan. The battle unfolded in the strait near Shimonoseki.
Kitakyushu: A city in northern Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu, formed in 1963 by merging five municipalities. Its Moji district faces Shimonoseki across the strait.
Mōri Motonari: A sixteenth-century Japanese warlord who expanded the Mōri clan's power in western Honshu. The Mōri family's regional influence later shaped Chōshū's control of the strait.
Kanmon Railway Tunnel: A railway tunnel beneath the Kanmon Straits, opened in 1942 as Japan's first undersea railway tunnel. It established a fixed rail connection through the strait before the road tunnel and bridge.
Sea of Japan: A marginal sea of the western Pacific, bordered by Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Russia. It connects to the Seto Inland Sea through the Kanmon Straits.
Battle of Shimonoseki Straits: A series of 1863–1864 clashes in which Western powers attacked Chōshū forces controlling the strait. It exposed the international consequences of restricting passage through this waterway.
Port of Moji: A port in Kitakyushu's Moji district, historically important to trade and transport in northern Kyushu. It occupies the Kyushu shore at the eastern end of the straits.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune: A twelfth-century Japanese military commander who helped secure the Minamoto victory in the Genpei War. He commanded Minamoto forces at the decisive Battle of Dan-no-ura.

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