Shimane Hidden Gems

Shimane keeps the oldest strand of Japanese religion, and it does so in a place that modern Japan largely bypassed. Izumo Taisha appears in the eighth-century chronicles as a rival centre to the imperial cult, and its main hall is built in a style older than Buddhist architecture in Japan, with a shimenawa rope at the front hall weighing several tonnes. The clapping here is four times rather than the usual two. In the tenth lunar month, when the rest of the country calls it the month without gods, Izumo calls it the month with gods, because they are said to gather here. West along the coast, Iwami Ginzan was one of the great silver mines of the sixteenth century and supplied a significant share of world production; what remains is a wooded valley of tunnels and a preserved mining town rather than an industrial site. Matsue, on the lagoon, kept its castle and the writer Lafcadio Hearn.