Shimokamagari (下蒲刈) or lower Kamagari is the first island in a chain that starts at the western base of Mount Noro, the second largest mountain on the Seto Inland Sea.

Shimokamagari is smaller than Kamagari, the second in the chain, but arguably more important historically. The rulers of western Japan used it for a military outpost to watch over ocean traffic and as a secure location to conduct diplomacy with visiting dignitaries from Korea and beyond in the Edo era.

Shimonoseki City (下関市) is located beside the historic Kanmon Straits which separates Kyushu and the western end of Honshu. The city has benefited tremendously since ancient times from controlling this junction and from trade with nearby mainland Asia. Daily sailings travel from Shimonoseki Port to Pusan in Korea.

Takehara City has the rather romantic literal meaning in Japanese of bamboo-field city. Form doesn't quite follow name but the area's outskirts do have large bamboo forests. Takehara developed, like Onomichi, as an important focus of sea traffic on the Seto Inland Sea. From the Muromachi era (1336-1573) to the Edo era (1603-1868), salt industries thrived in the area. Today, it is a small sedate coastal city with around 32,000 people living in the area.