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 lists lighthouses of the Oki Islands portion of Shimane Prefecture, which faces the Sea of Japan on the far southwestern coast of Honshū. The Oki Islands are located 50-80 km (30-50 mi) north of Matsue, Shimane. The largest island, Dōgo, is roughly circular with a diameter of about 20 km (13 mi). The other three inhabited islands, Nishinoshima, Nakanoshima, and Chiburishima, are closely grouped to the southwest of Dōgo. Once a place of exile for deposed emperors, the islands are now a national park and a popular tourist destination. Okinoshima, the largest town in the islands, has regular air service from Ōsaka, and all four major islands of the group are accessible by ferry from Matsue. The islands are governed as a subprefecture of Shimane Prefecture. The permanent population is about 25,000. 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. The Oki Islands lights are maintained by the Coast Guard office at Sakai, located on the mainland in Tottori Prefecture. A note on the Sea of Japan/East Sea controversy: The Directory takes no side in any international dispute; it makes use of the terminology, names, and spellings as they currently exist in each area covered. The sea between Japan and Korea is called the Sea of Japan on the pages for Japan and the East Sea on the pages for Korea. 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
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![]() Chiburi Shima Light, Chiburi, July 2020 Google Maps photo by Sobagara mon'yō |
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![]() Mitsabe Misaki Light, Nishinoshima Japanese Coast Guard photo |
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![]() Noda Saki Light, Nakanoshima, July 2021 ex-Google Maps photo by Jun Katoh |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining page: South: Shimane
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Posted February 28, 2007. Checked and revised April 23, 2025. Lighthouses: 31. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.