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Izumo Taisha: Japan's Grand Shrine of Marriage and Myth

By JAPN Published

Izumo Taisha: Japan’s Grand Shrine of Marriage and Myth

The Grand Shrine

Izumo Taisha, formally known as Izumo Oyashiro, ranks alongside Ise Jingu as one of the two most important Shinto shrines in Japan. While Ise enshrines Amaterasu the sun goddess, Izumo enshrines Okuninushi no Mikoto, the deity of relationships and marriage, making it the most popular shrine for couples and those seeking romantic connections. The current main hall, rebuilt in 1744, stands 24 meters tall, but archaeological evidence suggests the original may have risen 48 meters on enormous wooden pillars, making it the tallest building in ancient Japan.

The worship custom at Izumo differs from other shrines: instead of two claps, visitors perform four claps, representing the deity’s particular protocol. The shimenawa sacred rope on the Kaguraden worship hall weighs 5.2 tons and measures 13.6 meters long, one of the largest in Japan. According to myth, all eight million Shinto deities gather at Izumo during the tenth month of the lunar calendar, called Kamiarizuki (month with gods) in Izumo while the rest of Japan calls it Kannazuki (month without gods) since the deities have departed.

Mythology and Surroundings

The Kojiki, Japan’s oldest historical chronicle compiled in 712 AD, records the myth of Okuninushi ceding control of the terrestrial realm to the heavenly gods in exchange for a palace reaching to the heavens, interpreted as the origin story of Izumo Taisha. The Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo adjacent to the shrine displays massive pillar bases excavated in 2000 that confirmed the ancient texts’ descriptions of the original enormous structure. The museum also houses bronze bells and bronze swords excavated from nearby sites in quantities that rewrote understanding of Izumo’s ancient importance.

Inasa Beach, a ten-minute walk from the shrine, is where the mythological land-transfer negotiation took place and where the annual Kamimukae-sai ceremony in November welcomes the arriving deities. The beach faces the Sea of Japan with a distinctive bent rock called Benten-jima just offshore. Hinomisaki Shrine 15 minutes north by bus overlooks dramatic sea cliffs and houses a vermilion-painted structure contrasting with Izumo Taisha’s unpainted natural wood.

Visiting Izumo

JR Izumoshi Station connects to Hiroshima in four hours via Yamaguchi Line or to Okayama in three hours via the Yakumo limited express. From the station, buses reach the shrine in 25 minutes. The approach along the pine-lined Sando passes through Shinmon-dori street with shops selling Izumo soba, a darker buckwheat noodle served in three-tiered lacquer bowls called warigo with toppings of grated daikon and nori. Izumo soba noodle shops like Kenkyusho and Araki serve the local style for 800 to 1,200 yen.

Matsue City, 30 minutes east by train, offers Matsue Castle, one of the twelve surviving original castles in Japan, alongside the former residence of Lafcadio Hearn, the Irish-Greek writer who became a Japanese citizen and documented Izumo mythology in his 1894 book Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan. A day combining Izumo Taisha with Matsue Castle and a sunset boat cruise on Lake Shinji, where the sun sets spectacularly over the lake’s western edge, creates a full Shimane experience.

Matsue and Lake Shinji

Matsue City, 30 minutes east by train, offers Matsue Castle, one of the twelve surviving original castles in Japan with its dark wooden keep earning the nickname Black Castle. The former residence of Lafcadio Hearn, the Irish-Greek writer who became the Japanese citizen Koizumi Yakumo, is preserved as a museum showing the study where he wrote Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan and Kwaidan ghost stories that introduced Japanese supernatural tales to Western audiences. A sunset boat cruise on Lake Shinji, where the sun sets spectacularly over the lake’s western edge painting the water orange and gold, creates a memorable close to a Shimane day.

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