Japan in Motion---Pro-web casting from across Japan.

Matsushima

Matsushima is best known for having made it onto the famous list of the “Three Views of Japan,” attributed to the seventeenth century scholar Hayashi Razan. With all the things to see in this country, to be singled out as one of the top three is high honor indeed, and people have flocked the little bay ever since.
Just a short ride northeast of Sendai, Matsushima is also the name of a town, but what people come to see is the bay, which contains more than 250 white, weathered islets, most crowned with pines, bent and twisted by the wind. There are a number of options for exploring the bay by boat, leaving from piers in Shiogama or Matsushima town, but you should keep in mind that the bay’s eastern end, called Oku Matsushima, is less developed and consequently a bit more peaceful. It may be worth taking a boat that heads for the island of Miyato-jima, in this end of the bay, or even staying the night at the little town of Nobiru.

The islands are picturesque, and your tour guide will work hard to help you see all sorts of fantastic and comic figures represented by their shapes, but it’s probably a one-day stop at most. If you’ve finished touring the bay by boat and want something else to do to fill your afternoon, Matsushima town’s Zuiganji is one of Tohoku’s better known Zen temples and has a good collection of religious art. Two of the bay’s islands, called Oshima and Fukuurajima, can also be reached by footbridge and may be worth exploring. Oshima has a famous teahouse called Karantei that was brought here from Kyoto in the seventeenth century and is the largest Momoyama-style teahouse in Japan.

>>Access
JR Matsushima Kaigan station (Sensekisen line )====(5 min. on foot)====Kanrantei

JR Matsushima station (Tohoku honsen line)====(15 min. on foot)====Kanrantei

>>Open Hours
April - Oct.: 8:30 - 17:00
Nov. - March: 8:30 - 16:30

>>Holidays
No holidays

>>Fee
Adult: 200 yen, High school/College student: 150 yen, Elementary/Junior high school student: 100 yen

>>Website
Matsushima town
http://www.town.matsushima.miyagi.jp

-Matt Mangham

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Matsushima Area
>>Tours in Miyagi