Honshu
Largest island of Japan
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Honshu had a population of 100.7 million as of 2025, constituting 81.9% of the entire population of Japan, and mostly concentrated in the coastal areas and plains. Approximately 30% of the total population resides in the Greater Tokyo Area on the Kantō Plain. As the historical center of Japanese cultural and political power, the island includes several past Japanese capitals, including Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura. Much of the island's southern shore forms part of the Taiheiyō Belt, a megalopolis that spans several of the Japanese islands. Honshu also contains Japan's highest mountain, Mount Fuji, and its largest lake, Lake Biwa.
Most of Japan's industry is located in a belt running along Honshu's southern coast, from Tokyo to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima. The island is linked to the other three major Japanese islands by a number of bridges and tunnels. The island primarily shares two climates, with Northern Honshu having four seasons with largely varying temperatures while the south experiences long, hot summers and cool to mild winters.
Etymology
The name of the island, Honshū (本州), stems from Middle Chinese. It directly translates to "main province" or "home land" in English.
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History
Early history
Humans first arrived in Honshu at least approximately 37,000 years ago. The first humans to arrive in Honshu were Stone Age hunter-gatherers from Northeast Asia, likely following the migration of ice age megafauna. Surviving artifacts from this period include finely crafted stone blades, similar to those found in Siberia. After the initial arrival of hunter-gatherers, the island saw the emergence of the Jōmon period (c. 14,000–300 BCE), one of the earliest known eras of prehistoric Japanese culture. The Jōmon people were known for their distinctive cord-marked pottery and dogū clay figurines, many of which have been excavated at archaeological sites across Honshu. These artifacts reflect a complex spiritual life and early forms of sedentary communities, particularly along the coasts and river valleys.
Meiji Restoration
The Meiji Restoration, in Japanese history, is the political revolution in 1868 that brought the final demise of the Tokugawa shogunate (which was a military government). It ended the Edo (Tokugawa) Period (1603–1867) and at least nominally returned control of the country to direct imperial rule under Mutsuhito (the Emperor Meiji). One of the main leaders of the restoration (who were mostly young samurai) was Chōshū in far western Honshu, which was one of the feudal areas, hostile to Tokugawa authority domains.
Geography
The island is roughly 1,300 km (810 mi) long and ranges from 50 to 230 km (31 to 143 mi) wide, and its total area is 227,960 km2 (88,020 sq mi). It is slightly larger than Britain. Its land area has been increasing with land reclamation and coastal uplift in the north due to plate tectonics with a convergent boundary. Honshu has 10,084 kilometres (6,266 mi) of coastline.
Mountainous and volcanic, Honshu experiences frequent earthquakes (such as the Great Kantō earthquake, which heavily damaged Tokyo in September 1923; and the earthquake of March 2011, which moved the northeastern part of the island by varying amounts of as much as 5.3 m (17 ft) while causing devastating tsunamis). The highest peak is the active volcano Mount Fuji at 3,776 m (12,388 ft), which makes Honshu the world's 7th highest island. There are many rivers, including the Shinano River, Japan's longest. The Japanese Alps span the width of Honshu, from the 'Sea of Japan' coast to the Pacific shore. Western Japan experiences a temperate climate with hot summers and cool to mild winters. In addition to the general climate patterns, central Honshu, particularly the regions surrounding the Japanese Alps, experiences heavy snowfall in winter. Areas such as Niigata, Toyama, and Nagano prefectures are renowned for their snow accumulation, making them popular destinations for skiing and winter sports. These regions are among the snowiest inhabited places in the world, due to the humid air masses from the Sea of Japan colliding with the mountainous terrain.
Population
Honshu has a total population of 100.7 million people, according to the 2025 Census, 81.9% of the entire population of Japan. The largest city is Tokyo (population 14,246,219), the capital of Japan and part of the Greater Tokyo Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.
Extreme points
Bridges and tunnels
Honshu is connected to the islands of Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku by tunnels and bridges. Three bridge systems have been built across the islands of the Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku (Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and the Ōnaruto Bridge; Shin-Onomichi Bridge, Innoshima Bridge, Ikuchi Bridge, Tatara Bridge, Ōmishima Bridge, Hakata–Ōshima Bridge, and the Kurushima Kaikyō Bridge; Shimotsui-Seto Bridge, Hitsuishijima Bridge, Iwakurojima Bridge, Yoshima Bridge, Kita Bisan-Seto Bridge, and the Minami Bisan-Seto Bridge), the Seikan Tunnel connects Honshu with Hokkaido, and the Kanmonkyo Bridge and Kanmon Tunnel connect Honshu with Toyo.
Flora and fauna
These are notable flora and fauna of Honshu.
Geologic activity
Being on the Ring of Fire, the island of Honshu is seismically active, and is home to 40 active volcanoes.
In 2011, an earthquake of magnitude 9.0–9.1 occurred off the east coast of Honshu, generating tsunami waves up to 40.5 meters (133 ft) high that were observed all across the Pacific, and killing 19,759. It was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan, and the fourth most powerful earthquake in the world since modern record-keeping began in 1900. The tsunami subsequently led to the meltdown of 3 nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Parks
Economy
Honshu island generates around US$3.5 trillion or more than 80% of Japan's GDP.
Agriculture
Fruit, vegetables, grains, rice and cotton make up the main produce grown in Honshu. The Tōhoku region, spanning the north-eastern part of the island, is notable for its rice production, with 65% of cultivated land being rice paddy fields – almost a quarter of all paddy fields in Japan. Chiba Prefecture is famous for its peanuts, also being the largest producer in Japan. Rare species of the lichen genus Menegazzia are found only in Honshu.
Industry
Most of Japan's tea and silk is from Honshu. Japan's three largest industrial regions are all located on Honshu: the Keihin region, the Hanshin Industrial Region, and the Chūkyō Industrial Area.
Minerals and fuels
Honshu is home to a large portion of Japan's minimal mineral reserves, including small oil and coal deposits. Several coal deposits are located in the northern part of the island, concentrated in Fukushima Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture, though Honshu's coal production is negligible in comparison to Hokkaido and Kyushu. Most of Japan's oil reserves are also located in northern Honshu, along the west coast, spanning Niigata, Yamagata, and Akita Prefectures.
Most of Japan's copper, lead, zinc and chromite is located on Honshu, along with smaller, scattered deposits of gold, silver, arsenic, sulfur and pyrite.
Transportation
The Tokaido Shinkansen, opened in 1964 between Tokyo and Shin-Ōsaka, is Japan's first high-speed rail line. It is the world's oldest high-speed rail line and one of the most heavily used. The San'yō Shinkansen connects stations in the two largest cities in western Japan, Shin-Osaka in Osaka with Hakata Station in Fukuoka. Both the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Sanyo Shinkansen help form a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt megalopolis.
The island is served by Japan's 4 major airports which are:
- Haneda Airport (serving Tokyo)
- Narita International Airport (serving Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture)
- Chubu Centrair International Airport (serving the Chūkyō region)
- Kansai International Airport (serving the Keihanshin region)
Administrative regions and prefectures
The island is divided into five nominal regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. Administratively, some smaller islands are included within these prefectures, notably including the Ogasawara Islands, Sado Island, Izu Ōshima, and Awaji Island.
The regions and their prefectures are:
- Tōhoku region consists of six prefectures.
- Kantō region consists of seven prefectures, including the capital of Japan which is the Tokyo Metropolis.
- Chūbu region consists of nine prefectures.
- Kansai region consists of seven prefectures.
- Chūgoku region consists of five prefectures.