The nation of Japan, known in Japanese as Nihon or Nippon (日本), occupies an archipelago off the east coast of Asia. The four main islands are Hokkaidō in the north, Honshū (the largest) in the center, Shikoku in the south, and Kyūshū in the southwest. The country includes thousands of other islands of all sizes; among them the Ryūkyū (Nansei) Islands are a long chain extending to the southwest and including the large island of Okinawa, and the Nanpō Islands are another long chain extending south into the Pacific Ocean. Much of Japan is mountainous but the coastal regions are densely populated and urbanized; the country's population is about 126 million. Japan is divided into 47 prefectures. This page includes lighthouses of the southwestern coast of the Japanese prefecture of Hyōgo, including the Himeji metropolitan area and the Ieshima Islands. This area was in the former province of Harima. Southern Hyōgo faces south on the eastern end of the Seto Inland Sea (Seto Naikai), which separates Honshū from Shikoku. Hyōgo also includes the large island of Awaji, which nearly spans the Seto Inland Sea and comes very close to connecting Honshū and Shikoku. Lighthouses of the Kōbe Area and Awaji Shima are on separate pages. In addition, Hyōgo Prefecture also has a northern coast facing the Sea of Japan. Lighthouses of that coast are described on the Tottori Area page. In Japanese the word for a lighthouse is tōdai or toudai (灯台). The words saki and misaki are for capes and headlands, hana ("nose") is a promontory, hantō is a peninsula, shima (also spelled sima or jima) is an island, bae is a reef, iwa or shi is a rocky reef, amase or se is a shoal, wan is a bay, nada is a sound or basin, kaikyō is a strait, kawa is a river, and kō or minato is a harbor. Lighthouses in Japan are operated and maintained by the Japanese Coast Guard's Maritime Safety Agency. On Honshū there is at least one Coast Guard Section Office in each prefecture, often two. The lighthouses on this page are maintained by the Himeji office. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. JCG numbers are the Japanese Coast Guard's light list numbers. Admiralty numbers are from volume M of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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![]() Himeji (Mega) Kō East Outer Breakwater Light, Himeji Japanese Coast Guard Fifth Region photo |
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![]() Hirohata Kō Light, Himeji, March 2023 Google Maps photo by Kenichiro Asai |
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![]() Osaki Hana Light, Ieshima, December 2004 Google Maps photo by Tomio Tatsumi |
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![]() Matsu Shima Light, Ieshima Japanese Coast Guard Fifth Region photo |
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![]() Kazura Shima Light, Aioi Japanese Coast Guard Fifth Region photo |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Kōbe and Akashi | Southeast: Awaji Shima | West: Okayama
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Posted December 22, 2006. Checked and revised February 24, 2025. Lighthouses: 33. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.