Naruto Strait (鳴門海峡, Naruto-kaikyō) is a strait between Awaji Island and Shikoku in Japan. It connects Harima Nada, the eastern part of the Inland Sea and the Kii Channel. A famous feature of the strait is the Naruto whirlpools. Ōnaruto Bridge, the southern part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, crosses over it.
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👉 Naruto Strait in the context of Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway
The Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway (神戸淡路鳴門自動車道, Kōbe-Awaji-Naruto Jidōsha-dō; shortened to Shintanmei-dō (神淡鳴道)) is a tolled expressway that connects Hyōgo and Tokushima prefectures in Japan by crossings of the Akashi Strait and Naruto Strait. Built between 1970 and 1998, it is one of the three routes of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company connecting Honshū and Shikoku islands. The route is signed E28 under Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."
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Naruto Strait in the context of Tokushima Prefecture
Tokushima Prefecture (徳島県, Tokushima-ken; Japanese pronunciation: [to.kɯ̥ꜜ.ɕi.ma, tokɯ̥.ɕiꜜ.ma, to.kɯ̥.ɕi.maꜜ.keɴ]) is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 682,439 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, Ehime Prefecture to the west, and Kōchi Prefecture to the southwest.
Tokushima is the capital and largest city of Tokushima Prefecture, with other major cities including Anan, Naruto, and Yoshinogawa. Tokushima Prefecture is located on the Kii Channel, connecting the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea, across from Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula of the island of Honshu. Tokushima Prefecture is connected to Awaji Island across the Naruto Strait by the Ōnaruto Bridge as part of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, connecting the prefecture to the city of Kobe and the San'yō Expressway on Honshu.
Naruto Strait in the context of Awaji Island
Awaji Island (淡路島, Awaji-shima) is an island in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea between the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. The island has an area of 592.17 square kilometres (228.64 square miles). It is the largest island of the Seto Inland Sea.
As a transit between those two larger islands, Awaji originally means "the road to Awa", the historic province bordering the Shikoku side of the Naruto Strait, now part of Tokushima Prefecture.
Naruto Strait in the context of Naruto whirlpools
The Naruto whirlpools (鳴門の渦潮, Naruto no Uzushio) are tidal whirlpools in the Naruto Strait, a channel between Naruto in Tokushima and Awaji Island in Hyōgo, Japan. The strait between Naruto and Awaji island has a width of about 1.3 km (0.81 miles). The strait is one of the connections between the Pacific Ocean and the Inland Sea, a body of water separating Honshū and Shikoku, two of the main islands of Japan. The tide moves large amounts of water into and out of the Inland Sea twice a day. With a range of up to 1.7 m (5.6 ft), the tide creates a difference in the water level of up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) between the Inland Sea and the Pacific. Due to the narrowness of the strait, the water rushes through the Naruto channel at a speed of about 13–15 km/h (8–9 mph) four times a day, twice flowing in and twice flowing out. During a spring tide, the speed of the water may reach 20 km/h (12 mph), creating vortices up to 20 m (66 ft) in diameter.
The current in the strait is the fastest in Japan and the fourth fastest in the world after the Saltstraumen outside Bodø in Norway, which reaches speeds of 37 km/h (23 mph), the Moskenstraumen off the Lofoten islands in Norway (the original maelstrom) reaching 27.8 km/h (17.3 mph); and the Old Sow whirlpool in New Brunswick, Canada with up to 27.6 km/h (17.1 mph).