Shimane: Local Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines & Temples, Sightseeing | Japan 47 Prefecture Guide
Shimane is a place where you could say half of Japanese myth is set.
Local Specialties
Shijimi clams: Lake Shinji is among the leading producers in Japan.
The reason is the water. Lake Shinji is brackish, where seawater and fresh water mix, and that salinity is exactly right for the Yamato shijimi. The shape of the land is itself the reason for the industry.
Izumo soba is made by milling the buckwheat whole, husk and all. That is why it is dark and strongly scented. Warigo soba and kamaage soba are local ways of eating it. Nodoguro, local beef and Izumo rice.
Souvenirs
Izumo soba, shijimi soup, and the wagashi of Matsue. And small items in Sekishu washi.
Matsue is counted with Kyoto and Kanazawa among the towns with the most confectionery shops. That comes from its lord, Matsudaira Fumai, being a tea master.
Sacred Sites | Shrines & Temples
Miho Jinja is the head shrine of Japan's Ebisu shrines of the Kotoshironushi line (regarded as the head of about 3,385 shrines nationwide). Rakanji and Sahimeyama Jinja is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 32 shrines and temples worth knowing in Shimane.
Izumo Taisha(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Izumo Province / National Treasure / Izumo / Blessings: love and relationships, good fortune
Across Japan the tenth lunar month is called kannazuki, the month without gods, because the gods are away. In Izumo alone it is called kamiarizuki, the month with gods, because this is where they have gone. In that season the nineteen halls in the grounds are said to serve as their lodgings. Worship here is two bows, four claps, one bow, where most shrines take two claps: another sign of how apart this shrine stands.
Yaegaki Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: love and relationships
It enshrines Susanoo and Kushinadahime. Known for the paper fortune floated on the Mirror Pond in its grounds.
Hinomisaki Jinja(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Izumo / Blessings: warding off misfortune, safe voyages
If Ise Jingu guards the daylight of Japan, this shrine is said to guard its night. It is made up of two halls, the Kami-no-miya and the Hishizumi-no-miya.
Susa Jinja(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Izumo / Blessings: warding off misfortune, good fortune
The shrine where Susanoo is said to have finally come to rest. The great cedar in its grounds is held to be 1,300 years old.
Kamosu Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / National Treasure / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: love and relationships, warding off misfortune
Its main hall is a National Treasure, and is held to be the oldest surviving building in the taisha-zukuri style. It keeps an older form than Izumo Taisha.
Miho Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Matsue and Oki / Head shrine of Ebisu shrines of the Kotoshironushi line (regarded as the head of about 3,385 shrines nationwide) / Blessings: good catches, business prosperity, safe voyages
The head shrine of Ebisu, the deity Kotoshironushi. Custom is to pair a visit here with one to Izumo Taisha.
Gakuenji(Izumo)Buddhist temple / Izumo / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Said to be where Benkei trained. Famous for autumn colour, it carries the mountain worship of Izumo.
Izumo Honden(Izumo)Shinto shrine / National Treasure / Izumo / Blessings: love and relationships
Twenty-four metres tall. In ancient times it is said to have stood 48 metres, and the giant pillars of the older structure have been excavated.
Oshimenawa(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Izumo / Blessings: love and relationships
About 13 metres long and over five tonnes. Every few years the parishioners rehang it by hand.
Inasa no Hama(Izumo)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Izumo / Blessings: love and relationships
Where the gods are welcomed. Held to be the stage of the ceding of the land.
Sada Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: warding off misfortune
An unusual arrangement of three halls standing side by side. Sada Shin Noh is UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Gesshoji(Matsue)Buddhist temple / Historic Site / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: long life
The funerary temple of the Matsudaira of Matsue. Lafcadio Hearn wrote a ghost story about its huge stone tortoise.
Sakusame no Mori(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: love and relationships
The forest holding the Mirror Pond. Said to be where Susanoo hid Kushinadahime.
Rakanji(Oda)Buddhist temple / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / Iwami / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
Five hundred rakan were placed in rock caves to mourn those who died at the silver mine.
Sahimeyama Jinja(Oda)Shinto shrine / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / Iwami / Blessings: mountain worship
The guardian deity of the mine, enshrined at the heart of the Iwami silver mine.
Mononobe Jinja(Oda)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Iwami Province / Iwami / Blessings: victory
First shrine of Iwami Province. It preserves the chinkonsai rite.
Arifuku Onsen(Gotsu)Buddhist temple / Iwami / Blessings: long life
An old spring of Iwami. It enshrines the buddha who guards the water.
Mizuwakasu Jinja(Okinoshima)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Oki Province / Important Cultural Property / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: safe voyages
Its main hall in the oki-zukuri style is an Important Cultural Property. The island to which the retired emperors Gotoba and Godaigo were exiled.
Taikodani Inari Jinja(Tsuwano)Shinto shrine / Iwami / Blessings: business prosperity
It claims to be one of the five great Inari shrines of Japan. About a thousand torii cover the approach.
Suga Jinja(Unnan)Shinto shrine / Izumo / Blessings: love and relationships
It claims to be the first shrine of Japan. Where Susanoo composed the poem beginning with the rising clouds of Izumo.
Kagami no Ike(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: love and relationships
You float a paper with a coin on it: the sooner it sinks, the sooner your match will come.
Manai Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: good fortune
An old shrine recorded in the Izumo Fudoki. One of the six shrines of Ou.
Kumano Taisha(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Izumo Province / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: fire protection, love and relationships
It claims to be the shrine where fire was first made in Japan. The rite of handing the fire drill to Izumo Taisha continues.
Rokusho Jinja(Matsue)Shinto shrine / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: warding off misfortune
The soja of Izumo Province, close to the site of the provincial government.
Fumishima(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Natural Monument / Izumo / Blessings: good catches
A breeding ground for black-tailed gulls. It is the sacred ground of Hinomisaki Jinja, and only priests may cross to it.
Tachikuekyo(Izumo)Buddhist temple / Place of Scenic Beauty / Natural Monument / Izumo / Blessings: mountain worship
Columnar rocks stand in ranks, and it is called the Yabakei of the San'in coast. Five hundred rakan are enshrined here.
Manpukuji(Masuda)Buddhist temple / Place of Scenic Beauty / Iwami / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Its garden, attributed to Sesshu, is a Place of Scenic Beauty.
Ikoji(Masuda)Buddhist temple / Place of Scenic Beauty / Iwami / Blessings: long life
Sesshu lived here in his last years and made the garden. The main gate was moved from the great gate of Masuda Castle.
Yomeiji(Tsuwano)Buddhist temple / Iwami / Blessings: study and exams
The grave of Mori Ogai is here. The funerary temple of the lords of Tsuwano.
Karakama Jinja(Izumo)Shinto shrine / Izumo / Blessings: wealth, good fortune
You worship by squeezing through a cleft in the rock 45 centimetres wide. A deity of ironworking.
Tamawakasu Jinja(Okinoshima)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Matsue and Oki / Blessings: long life
The Yaosugi cedar in its grounds is held to be 2,000 years old.
Kanbara Jinja(Unnan)Shinto shrine / Izumo / Blessings: good harvests
A bronze mirror inscribed with the year Jingchu 3 was excavated from a burial mound here.
Sightseeing
Omori and Iwami Ginzan and Yunotsu Onsen is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Breakdown: castle 1, historic townscape 3, hot spring 2, nature / scenery 1. 12 places to see in Shimane.
Iwami Kagura(Hamada and nearby)festival / event / Iwami
Known for its Yamata-no-Orochi piece. A local performing art danced through the night.
Kamiarisai(Izumo)festival / event / Izumo
In the tenth lunar month the gods of all Japan gather in Izumo. What is the month without gods elsewhere is the month with gods here.
Matsue-jo(Matsue)castle / Matsue and Oki / National Treasure / 1611
A surviving keep, and a National Treasure. It is also called Chidori Castle.
Omori(Oda)historic townscape / Iwami / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings / UNESCO World Heritage / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings
It became World Heritage because the silver was taken without wrecking the environment.
Iwami Ginzan(Oda)industrial heritage / Iwami / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / Historic Site / UNESCO World Heritage / 1526
It was recognised for taking silver without wrecking the environment. At one point it produced a third of the world's silver.
Adachi Museum(Yasugi)garden / park / Matsue and Oki / 1970
It has topped an American magazine's ranking of Japanese gardens for over twenty years. The windows are treated as picture frames.
Yushien(Matsue)garden / park / Matsue and Oki / 1975
A peony garden on Daikonshima. Flowers are floated across the whole surface of the pond.
Tsuwano(Tsuwano)historic townscape / Iwami / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings
The little Kyoto of the San'in coast. Carp swim in the roadside channels.
Kuniga Coast(Nishinoshima)nature / scenery / Matsue and Oki / Place of Scenic Beauty / Natural Monument
Matengai cliff, 257 metres high. Cattle and horses graze on the clifftop.
Yunotsu Onsen(Oda)hot spring / Iwami / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings / UNESCO World Heritage (Cultural) / UNESCO World Heritage
A spa town that was also the port from which silver was shipped. The only hot spring town designated a preservation district.
Tamatsukuri Onsen(Matsue)hot spring / Matsue and Oki
The Izumo Fudoki records that one bathing here makes the face fair.
Horikawa Cruise(Matsue)historic townscape / Matsue and Oki
You circle the castle moat by small boat. At the low bridges the roof comes down.
Traditional Crafts
Two crafts hold national designation: Sekishu washi and Izumo stone lanterns.
Sekishu-banshi was inscribed by UNESCO in 2014 as part of Washi. Inscribed with it were Hon-Mino paper from Gifu and Hosokawa paper from Saitama. Three districts, listed not separately but under a single name.
More: VILLAGE Journal vol.18 — Three districts under one name（リンク先は現在公開されていません）
More from This Prefecture
See all Shimane articles ← All 47 prefectures
Sources: Shimane Prefecture, City of Matsue, City of Izumo, City of Oda, City of Hamada, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village editorial team