Areas in Japan where Hijiki is distributed are Honshu (the main island of Japan), the Shikoku region, the Kyushu region, and the Nansei Islands (the Amami-Oshima Island, the islands of Okinawa), and areas outside Japan are the Korean Peninsula and southern China.
日本では北海道から本州、四国、九州、南西諸島（奄美大島、沖縄島）に、日本国外では朝鮮半島及び中国南部に分布する。