Kagawa Prefecture is situated in Japan’s first national park, the Seto Inland Sea National Park, in the northeastern part of Shikoku. In the northern part of the prefecture is the Sanuki Plain, which faces out toward the Seto Inland Sea, and the Sanuki Mountain Range forms the southern boundary of the prefecture. It is warm and dry throughout the year, with long hours of sunshine giving it abundant natural beauty and a mild climate.

Kagawa’s landscape, laid out along the gentle Inland Sea, has enchanted travelers throughout the years. The Sanuki Plain, with its lovely expanses of fields and paddies, is dotted throughout with reservoirs such as Mannoike, round-topped mountains, and shrines nestled in green groves of trees. Together they create a calm, quintessential Japanese landscape that looks as if it came out of a folk tale.

Extending 450 kilometers from east to west, the beautiful marine passageway of the Inland Sea is peppered with islands of all shapes and sizes, giving rise to the catch phrase, “the beauty of many islands.” This unique landscape of calm waters, sprinkling of islands, white sand beaches backed by green pines, and terraced fields, a landscape formed by the workings of both man and nature, undergoes subtle changes throughout the year. People who live here are fond of saying, “The Inland Sea never shows the same face twice. I never get tired of looking at it.”

Sunsets are a type of “atmospheric art” created by a particular combination of place, season, time, and weather. The lush natural landscape of Kagawa Prefecture offers many spots where visitors can watch the huge, resplendent sphere of the sun sink below the horizon.