Regions & prefectures
JapanRegions & prefectures
Shimane
The shrine where all the gods of Japan gather once a year.
- Capital
- Matsue
- Status
- Prefecture
- Region
- Chūgoku
- Must-see
- Izumo Grand Shrine
- Local specialty
- Izumo soba, Lake Shinji clams
The tenth lunar month is called "the month without gods" everywhere in Japan, except in Izumo where it is "the month with gods": tradition holds that the eight million deities gather at Izumo-taisha to arrange the year’s marriages. The Iwami Ginzan silver mine supplied nearly a third of the world’s silver in the seventeenth century. Lafcadio Hearn, the Irish-Greek writer who became Japanese, lived in Matsue.
What to see there
Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.
In the magazine
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