hi there this is the start of another great adventure in this video, we will explore Shimane prefecture and a little bit of Tottori prefecture a place known for its Shinto shrines and mythical status in Japanese culture we'll grab a car and head to our first destination lunch our choice is a fish bowl restaurant close to the sea port fresh fish the place has excellent reviews restaurant name: "Gyosantei" fish bowl is always a good idea if you are visiting a port city by the way, this is the car we are driving small, but does the job we are going to Miho Shrine about 40 minutes drive as you can see the road is snowy makes me a little bit nervous the shrine is in a a small coastal village it's a actually a great scenery snow, small coastal village, embraced by mountains shrines usually have a lot of stairs to get to the top we'll need to lift the stroller everytime no ramps or elevators as I said this region has a lot of Shinto shrines Miho Shrine is a popular one but Izumo Taisha is the biggest, most famous one we visit Miho Shrine today and Izumo Taisha tomorrow both are kinda far from each other rule number one of Shinto shrines wash your hands in the entrace Miho Shrine was built to worship Ebisu-sama the god of good harvest, good catch, business success Ebisu-sama is also the logo of a famous Japanese brewery apparently, there will some sort of music performance I will leave you with the music while I show you the surroundings In Miho shrine, you get your omikuji by fishing it Omikuji is a lotery that tells your fortune usually you just grab it from a box but here you fish it the message comes stuffed in the fish carefully take it out and read it you might not fully understand it ask your Japanese friend for the meaning once you read it, find one of these trees and knot your omikuji here Kami-sama will listen to your prayers ok, let's move to our next destination Sakaiminato city we will be walking the "Mizuki Shigeru Road" so, the city of Sakaiminato happens to be the birthplace of this famous manga writer Mizuki Shigeru his most famous work is "Gegege no Kitaro" a story about yokais - supernatural creatures from Japanese folklore Mizuki Shigeru is considered by many as one of the greatest manga writers that ever lived in "Mizuki Shigeru Road", you can find statues of characters and scenes from his manga also, lots of shops and cafes that celebrates Mizuki Shigeru works there is also a museum nearby - we will check it out this is the museum unfortunately we were told not film inside Mizuki Shigeru had an intense life was sent to Papua New Guinea to fight in WW2 lost his left arm befriended a local tribe who invited him to settle there after Japan's surrendered he ended up returning to Japan but had to endure harsh poverty until he got his recognition as manga writer interesting life story so we're close to the end of day 1 we'll go to the hotel now tomorrow we will visit Izumo Taisha see you sorry for the mess just wanted to show you the room we are staying view looks like this it's a casual hotel in Tamazukuri onsen the lobby is spacious and comfy I had a hard time finding this hotel yesterday missed some roads and got lost but we made it the entrance today we drive to Izumo Taisha (about 1 hour) Izumo Taisha is one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan Izumo Taisha, Ise Jingu, and Kasuga Taisha are probably the holiest sites in Japan this is the road that leads to the shrine turns out they are revamping some parts of the road that huge white torii gate shows that Izumo Taisha is just ahead a closer look at the torii you can find small shops like these there is also a train station kinda charming, let's have a look inside as we get closer to the shrine, the shops get fancier ok, now we are finally in the shrine entrance Izumo Taisha is quite big compared to Miho shrine the park around is also very nice worth spending a couple of hours Izumo Taisha is a shrine dedicated to Ookuninushi-sama a Shinto god who is said to have developed the land and started a country in a mythological past for some reason, he gave the country to Amaterasu-sama a Shinto goddess she decided to let her children live in this country and that is supposed to be the beginning of Japan Amaterasu-sama built Izumo Taisha and gave it to Ookuninushi-sama as a reward and now he lives here so yeah, this place is legendary in a literal sense you might be wondering what are these rabbits Ookuninushi-sama is said to have helped a wounded rabbit so you can find all these rabbits around the shrine as symbol of kindness and altruism here is Ookuninushi-sama himself this is another episode of Japanese mythology he sees a light coming from sea this gives him some sort of special powers then he turns into god ok, enough of mythology let's have a look at the shrine today is January, usually a busy month for Shinto shrines it's tradition to go to the shrine at the start of a year people are lining up to pray we also wait in line for our turn will ask Kami-sama to protect our family and for a substantial pay raise (should rather ask my boss) Izumo Taisha has a lots of places to pray pray here too just in case got an omikuji in Izumo Taisha as well it says that I am going to have a great year but also that I need to stay humble another praying area Izumo Taisha feels like a theme park lots of praying spots and waiting lines as you can see Izumo Taisha is a beautiful place lots of nature the air is fresh and relaxing contemplate the nature now we need to find a place to have lunch there are a couple of options around we decided to have soba for lunch they have a local type of soba here: Izumo soba let's give it a try the place looks like this Izumo soba is served in a rather unique way it comes pilled up like this mine is the 5 floor soba menu each floor has a different topping this is the 3 floor version so we ended our tour in Izumo Taisha nearby the parking lot there is this souvenier shop decided to have a quick look you can find all sorts of local products also drinks and snacks for your trip so Shimane prefecture has an official mascot "Shimanekko" supposed to be a cat with a Izumo Taisha hat Shimanekko is everywhere gotta buy one for myself 10 minutes drive from Izumo Taisha, you will find Inasa beach there is huge rock with a small shrine on the top of it Instagramable so, people come here to grab beach sand there is a place in Izumo Taisha where you deposit the raw sand and exchange it for blessed sand then you can spread a little bit of this blessed sand in your garden and grow holy vegetables yea, that's actaully a thing ok, time to go back we still have a little bit of time left so we are planning to explore a little bit the area around the hotel Tamazukuri Onsen Onsen villages can be very touristy sometimes for those living in Tokyo metro area Kusatsu, Atami, and Hakone are major onsen villages Tamazukuri is way smaller, almost no shops peaceful we found this interesting spot you can buy a spray bottle and fill it with hot spring water 200 yen the local hot spring water is said to be good to your skin lots of minerals comes in a couple of different color variations fill your bottle here and you are good to go ok, so that makes the end of our day 2 gotta dine properly and get ready for tomorrow tomorrow is our last day in Shimane we will pay a visit to Matsue city which happens to be in our way to the airport see you tomorrow! here we are in Matsue our plan is to visit the local feudal fortress Matsue-jo we left the hotel early in the morning drove about 40 minutes to Matsue city and now we are walking the park that leads to the castle Matsue-jo is right up there Matsue-jo is one of the 12 feudal castles (not replicas) that are left in Japan Matsue-jo was built in the 1600s great historical significance we are approaching the castle tower you can get inside for a fee 680 yen the stairs are very steep quite tough to visit it with a toddler but here we are so, some castles you visit in Japan are actually replicas Osaka-jo in Osaka, for example but Matsue-jo is the original one everything you see here is the real deal you can find stuff written in the pillars of the castle probably written by bored soldiers joking, it is actually some numbering set by the carpenters of the time an old well let's have a look at the windows soldiers would shoot arrows from these spaces this is another window we are on the top floor now let's check the view approved there are a couple more of places we'd like to visit in Matsue city but we've got no more time left time to go so now we go the airport have a quick lunch and board the plane back to Tokyo it was a nice trip consider coming to Shimane lots of interesting places our last meal in Shimane Crab Ramen that makes the end of this video I hope you enjoyed it see you in our next trip
2025-02-02 10:27