Miyazaki: Local Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines & Temples, Sightseeing | Japan 47 Prefecture Guide
Miyazaki is a prefecture where the places of the Hyuga myths still survive as place names.
Local Specialties
Miyazaki ranks near the top nationally both for broiler chickens raised and for pigs. It is livestock country.
Charcoal-grilled jidori chicken is cooked hard and fast over flame until the outside is black. Jidori is firm meat, and hard to eat if grilled in the ordinary way. Rather than treat the firmness as a fault, they turned it into aroma with a strong fire. The same thinking as seared bonito in Kochi.
Hiyajiru, a fisherman's dish of chilled mackerel broth poured over rice; mango; hyuganatsu citrus; and sweet potato shochu.
Souvenirs
Cheese manju, local confectionery, shochu. And the wooden swords of Miyakonojo.
Miyakonojo is also known as a producer of bamboo bows for kyudo. A prefecture of wood and bamboo.
Sacred Sites | Shrines & Temples
27 shrines and temples worth knowing in Miyazaki.
Takachiho Jinja(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Northern area / Blessings: love and relationships, warding off misfortune, good fortune
Held to be the place of the descent of the heavenly grandson. From November to February each year the night kagura is performed here, village by village, in private houses and kagura lodgings. From around midnight until the next morning, thirty-three dances are dedicated over a single night. An Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, it continues not as a spectacle but as something the village does for itself.
Udo Jingu(Nichinan)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Southern area / Blessings: safe childbirth, love and relationships
Its main hall sits inside a cave on the coast. Held to be where the father of Emperor Jimmu was born, it is revered as a deity of safe childbirth.
Aoshima Jinja(Miyazaki)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: love and relationships, safe voyages
It stands on an island ringed by the wave-cut rock shelves called the devil's washboard, and is covered in subtropical plants.
Amanoiwato Jinja(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: good fortune, warding off misfortune
Its deity is the rock cave in which Amaterasu is said to have shut herself away. The nearby Amanoyasukawara is the cave where the gods are said to have gathered to confer.
Miyazaki Jingu(Miyazaki)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: good fortune, warding off misfortune
It enshrines Emperor Jimmu. Known for the great torii on its approach and a white wisteria over 600 years old.
Tsuno Jinja(Tsuno)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Hyuga Province / Miyazaki / Blessings: love and relationships, good harvests
First shrine of Hyuga Province. Emperor Jimmu is said to have prayed here before his eastern campaign.
Takachiho-kyo(Takachiho)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Place of Scenic Beauty / Natural Monument / Northern area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
A gorge of columnar jointing, formed when Aso pyroclastic flow set hard and the river cut through it. The Manai Falls drop into it.
Amanoiwato Nishi(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: good fortune
The rock cave itself is the deity, so it has no main hall.
Amanoyasukawara(Takachiho)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Northern area / Blessings: good fortune
The cave where the gods are said to have gathered to confer. Countless stones stacked by worshippers stand in rows.
Meoto Sugi(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: love and relationships
Two cedars joined at the root. Walk round them three times hand in hand, they say, and the bond is made.
Undama(Nichinan)Shinto shrine / Southern area / Blessings: good fortune
You throw unglazed clay balls into a hollow in the rock below the cliff. Men throw with the left hand, women with the right.
Tsuma Jinja(Saito)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: safe childbirth, love and relationships
It enshrines Konohanasakuya-hime, and carries a tradition of being the birthplace of Japanese sake.
Tsumakirishima Jinja(Miyakonojo)Shinto shrine / Miyakonojo / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Stone steps said to have been built by an ogre in one night. A sacred stone, cut clean through, remains here.
Sano Jinja(Takaharu)Shinto shrine / Miyakonojo / Blessings: good fortune
Held to be the birthplace of Emperor Jimmu. Its cedar-lined approach runs a long way.
Imayama Hachimangu(Nobeoka)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: victory
The tutelary shrine of Nobeoka, standing on a hill above the town.
Omi Jinja(Hyuga)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: safe voyages
It stands on a cliff of columnar jointing, and is called the Ise of Hyuga.
Amanoiwato Higashi(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: good fortune
Held to be where Amaterasu lived after she came out of the rock cave.
Kushifuru Jinja(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: good fortune
Held to be the place of the descent of the heavenly grandson. Originally the mountain itself was the deity.
Aratate Jinja(Takachiho)Shinto shrine / Northern area / Blessings: love and relationships, the performing arts
Said to be where Sarutahiko and Ame-no-Uzume were married. A deity of the performing arts.
Ushiodake Jinja(Nichinan)Shinto shrine / Southern area / Blessings: good catches
Held to be the only shrine in Japan enshrining Umisachihiko.
Aoshima Motomiya(Miyazaki)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: love and relationships
Deep on the island, set among subtropical woodland.
Ikime Jinja(Miyazaki)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Revered as a deity of the eyes. It carries the legend of Taira no Kagekiyo.
Eda Jinja(Miyazaki)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: love and relationships, rebirth and renewal
It enshrines Izanagi. The Misogi pond beside it is held to be the birthplace of purification rites.
Sennen Kusu(Saito)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: long life
A great camphor with a hollow at its base. Passing through it is said to grant a child.
Shiromi Jinja(Saito)Shinto shrine / Miyazaki / Blessings: good harvests, the performing arts
The Shiromi kagura is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. It keeps the old form of offering a boar's head.
Mochio Jinja(Miyakonojo)Shinto shrine / Miyakonojo / Blessings: business prosperity, love and relationships
A great rock is its deity. Known for the avenue of cherry trees on its approach.
Kirishima Mine Jinja(Kobayashi)Shinto shrine / Miyakonojo / Blessings: mountain worship
One of the six Kirishima Gongen shrines. It stands at the northern foot of Takachihonomine.
Sightseeing
Breakdown: castle 1, nature / scenery 8, industrial heritage 1, festival / event 2. 14 places to see in Miyazaki.
Haniwaen(Miyazaki)garden / park / Miyazaki
Figures copied from the haniwa of Saitobaru stand among the trees.
Kunimigaoka(Takachiho)nature / scenery / Northern area
On autumn mornings a sea of cloud fills the basin. A grandson of Emperor Jimmu is said to have surveyed the land from here.
Moai(Nichinan)nature / scenery / Southern area
The only replicas in the world that the elders of Easter Island have permitted.
Obi Jokamachi(Nichinan)castle / Southern area / Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings
The little Kyoto of Kyushu. Its domain school, Shintokudo, survives.
Saitobaru Kofun(Saito)burial mound / archaeological site / Miyazaki / Special Historic Site / Historic Site / 4th to 7th centuries
More than 300 burial mounds spread across the plateau. One of the largest such groups in Japan.
Shiiba(Shiiba)festival / event / Northern area / Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings
One of the three great hidden regions of Japan. Slash-and-burn farming and Taira clan legends survive here.
Yokagura(Takachiho)festival / event / Northern area / Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property
Thirty-three dances performed through the night. They are still dedicated in the houses of the village.
Takachiho Gorge(Takachiho)nature / scenery / Northern area / Place of Scenic Beauty / Natural Monument
Columnar jointing formed when Aso pyroclastic flow set hard and the river cut through. You can see the Manai Falls from a rental boat.
Aoshima(Miyazaki)nature / scenery / Miyazaki / Natural Monument
An island ringed by wave-cut rock shelves, thick with subtropical plants.
Udo Jingu(Nichinan)nature / scenery / Southern area
You go down the cliff to the halls inside the cave, and throw the unadama balls.
Nichinan Coast(Nichinan and nearby)nature / scenery / Southern area
An avenue of phoenix palms runs along the coast. It was once the mecca of the honeymoon.
Amanoyasukawara(Takachiho)nature / scenery / Northern area
The cave where the gods are said to have gathered to confer. Countless stacked stones stand in rows.
Ebino Highland(Ebino)nature / scenery / Miyakonojo
The crater lakes of the Kirishima range. The starting point for climbing Karakunidake.
Aya Suspension Bridge(Aya)industrial heritage / Miyazaki / 1984
It spans a forest of broadleaf evergreens, a UNESCO Eco Park.
Traditional Crafts
Two crafts hold national designation: Miyakonojo daikyu bows and Honba Oshima pongee.
Miyakonojo is said to account for most of the bamboo bows made in Japan. Bamboo and wax-tree wood are layered alternately and joined with hide glue. No metal, no screws: the strength comes from the spring of the materials alone. One bow is said to take more than six months to finish.
More: VILLAGE Journal vol.7 — Layering bamboo and wood, one on the other（リンク先は現在公開されていません）
More from This Prefecture
See all Miyazaki articles ← All 47 prefectures
Sources: Miyazaki Prefecture, City of Miyazaki, Takachiho Town, City of Miyakonojo, City of Nichinan, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village editorial team