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Shonan (湘南) is the name of a resort-oriented region
along the coast of
Sagami Bay in central
Japan. Centered around
Enoshima, an island about 50 kilometers southwest of
Tokyo, the Shonan region stretches from Oiso (大磯) in the west to
Hayama (葉山) in the east, including
Kamakura (鎌倉) and Hiratsuka (平塚). Because of the bay, the region
benefits from a mild climate and long beaches covered with dark volcanic
sand.
In postwar times, the Shonan region gained prominence in
Ishihara Shintaro's prize-winning 1955 novel, Taiyo no Kisetsu (Season
of the Sun). The novel portrayed the hedonistic lifestyle of young
sun-worshippers from elite families (the "sun-tribe"), who hung out on
Shonan beaches. Lying as it does on the edge of the Tokyo-Yokohama
metropolitan area, the Shonan region is nowadays a leading resort area,
oriented to surfing, sailboating, and other water sports.
The region's name, Shonan, derives from a scenic region in
Hunan, China, encapsulated in the phrase 瀟湘湖南 (Chinese: xiao1 xiang1
hu2 nan2; Japanese: shosho konan). This phrase refers to a beautiful area
centered around the Xiao River (瀟江) and the Xiang River (湘江) south of the
Chang Jiang (長江: also called Yangzi or Yangtse River in English) in
Hunan. Often praised in Chinese poetry, its scenery became a popular
subject of paintings in both medieval China and Japan. In Japan, the
scenery of the Shonan area was thought to be similar to the scenery around
the Xiao and Xiang rivers in Hunan, China; hence the term "Shonan"
(Chinese: "xiang1 nan2," another name for the Hunan region) came to be
applied to the area around Enoshima in Japan.
Besides the similarity in scenery, the two areas both had flood-basin
lakes. The lake in China, which still exists, is
Lake Dongting (洞庭湖). Among others, the lake is fed by the Xiang and
Xiao rivers (the Xiao is a tributary of the Xiang). In Japan, the
corresponding flood-basin lake (which no longer exists but was mentioned
in the
Enoshima Engi) was probably located along the course of the
Kashio River, which flows into Sagami Bay (via the
Katase River) at Enoshima.
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