HokkaidoThe northernmost and second-largest of the four main islands.
KyushuThe most southerly of the four main islands.
ShikokuThe four main islands' smallest.
Okinawa IslandThe largest of the Ryukyu Islands, south of Kyushu.
Noto PeninsulaPoints north from central Honshu into the Sea of Japan.
Rivers and Lake Biwa 4
Tone RiverJapan's second-longest river, in the Kanto region.
Ishikari RiverThe longest river in Hokkaido, flowing through Sapporo.
Mogami RiverA river of Yamagata Prefecture, on Honshu.
Lake BiwaJapan's largest freshwater lake, near Kyoto.
Seas and straits 9
Pacific OceanThe largest and deepest ocean, east of Japan.
Sea of JapanBetween Japan, Korea and Russia. Also called the East Sea.
Sea of OkhotskA sea north of Hokkaido, between Sakhalin and Kamchatka.
East China SeaA marginal sea in the western Pacific, off eastern China.
Philippine SeaThe world's largest sea, south of Japan.
Seto Inland SeaSeparates Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu.
Korea StraitA sea passage between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Tsugaru StraitThe strait between Honshu and Hokkaido.
La Pérouse StraitDivides Hokkaido from Sakhalin. Japan calls it the Soya Strait.
How this list was compiled: Names and outlines: Natural Earth 5.1.2 physical layers (credited under the drawing; they are the drawing, not a name source). Every name and detail line was read on 2026-10-01 in the opening of the feature's English Wikipedia article. Second source, a reference work, read 2026-10-01: for the waters the Marine Regions gazetteer of the Flanders Marine Institute, whose records follow the sea areas of the International Hydrographic Organization's Limits of Oceans and Seas (Sea of Okhotsk, Eastern China Sea, Philippine Sea, North Pacific Ocean, Seto Naikai or Inland Sea; Japan Sea in its SeaVoX list; https://www.marineregions.org/rest/getGazetteerRecordsByName.json/Philippine%20Sea/ and the same call for each name); for the islands, the peninsula, the rivers, the lake and two straits the GeoNames gazetteer (https://www.geonames.org/search.html?q=Honshu&country=JP and the same search for each name: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa as islands, Noto Hanto, the Tone, Ishikari and Mogami Rivers, Lake Biwa, the Korea Strait, and the Soya Strait with La Perouse Strait as its other name); for the Tsugaru Strait the Library of Congress subject heading Tsugaru Strait (Japan), https://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85138341. Official text, read 2026-10-01: the Statistics Bureau of Japan, Statistical Handbook of Japan 2026, chapter 1, Land and Climate (https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/pdf/2026half_1.pdf), which names Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa as the main islands and lists the Shinano River at 367 km, the Tone River at 322 km, the Ishikari River at 268 km, the Mogami River at 229 km and Lake Biwa as the largest lake. Sea of Japan is Natural Earth's name for the sea; South Korea calls it the East Sea, which is an accepted answer, and the page says so. Licence: own work
The drawing: Drawn for this site from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_geography_regions_polys (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_geography_regions_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_50m_geography_marine_polys (scale 1:50,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_50m_geography_marine_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_geography_marine_polys (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_geography_marine_polys.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19; from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_rivers_lake_centerlines (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_rivers_lake_centerlines.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection centred on 35.8°N 136.8°E. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This blank physical map of Japan prints the four main islands with no prefecture lines, three rivers, Lake Biwa and the seas and straits around them. Choose Numbered for a worksheet, or Named for the labeled map.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
The sheet opens blank: the coast, the four shaded main islands, three river lines and the seas, with nothing written on it. Numbered puts a number on each of the 19 features, and Named writes the names instead. Press Print this map; the answer key prints on a sheet of its own.
What the map leaves off
No prefecture line, country border or city is drawn. The mainland of Asia and the small islands around the main four are plain land without numbers. Mount Fuji, the Japanese Alps and the Shinano River are not in the map data.
North to south, the four main islands run Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu.
Two straits bound Hokkaido: La Pérouse Strait to the north, Tsugaru Strait to the south.
Questions and answers
What are the four main islands of Japan?
Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. Honshu is the largest and Shikoku the smallest. Japan's statistics office also lists Okinawa, far to the southwest, as a fifth main island; it carries its number in a ring.
What is the longest river in Japan?
The Shinano River, which is not in the map data. The map draws the next two: the Tone River, 322 kilometers long, and the Ishikari River, 268 kilometers, the longest in Hokkaido.
Why does the map say Sea of Japan?
The map data calls it the Sea of Japan. South Korea calls the same sea the East Sea, and the quiz takes either name. The strait listed as La Pérouse Strait is called the Soya Strait in Japan.
Is there a quiz on the same map?
Yes. Press Quiz yourself on this map. Each question names one feature to tap on the same drawing.