This guide covers Izumo Taisha and the Hinomisaki lighthouse in Izumo, Shimane: how to get from JR Izumoshi to the shrine gate one leg at a time, what the railway and the lighthouse charge, when the lighthouse tower can be climbed, and how to shape an unhurried day around both. It does not cover the San'in coast beyond Izumo.
Why the First Train of the Day Changes Izumo
Izumo Taisha is among the best-known shrines in Japan, and fame brings company. Arrive at midday and you are likely to share the approach with tour groups and school parties; arrive on the first departure of the morning and the same paths belong, for a while, to the people who live here and to you.
Crowds have a calendar. In the old records the shrine's great festival is said to run for three days each year, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth of May, and those are days to plan around rather than into. More than a hundred rites are said to be held across the year, so a ceremony is often under way.
This guide is built around that timing. The plan is simple: take the small electric railway from Izumoshi on its first run, walk down through the great torii while the shops are still shuttered, spend the late morning inside the grounds, and give the afternoon to the lighthouse at Hinomisaki before the walk back.
The worship hall, with its great rope of rice straw under the eaves.
Getting There, One Leg at a Time
Everything below starts at JR Izumoshi, the city's main railway gateway. However you reach it, by rail along the coast, by highway coach, or by air and a connecting ride into town, the day proper begins on its forecourt, and each leg from here is short enough to be walked or ridden without a second plan.
- Leg one, on foot: from JR Izumoshi Station, walk to the Ichibata Electric Railway's own Dentetsu-Izumoshi Station, a transfer of about five minutes on foot.
- Leg two, by rail: ride the Ichibata train from Dentetsu-Izumoshi to Izumo Taisha-mae; the one-way fare for an adult is five hundred and fifty yen.
- Leg two, for children: the one-way fare for a child on the same ride is two hundred and eighty yen.
- Leg three, on foot: from Izumo Taisha-mae Station, the walk to the shrine's main gate takes about five minutes.
Depending on the departure, the ride may involve a change part-way; follow the signs for Izumo Taisha-mae on the platform. Timetables are seasonal, so confirm the first morning departure the evening before, and give yourself a few spare minutes at Dentetsu-Izumoshi rather than running for it. Times and fares change; confirm them before you travel.
The rounded green roof of Izumo Taisha-mae, the end of the ride.
The building itself is worth a pause before you walk on: a rounded roof of green tiles, warm yellow walls, and a tall arched window over the door, a small piece of Art Deco at the foot of a shrine. Step out onto the forecourt, turn toward the hills, and the rest of the day is on foot.
One of the Ichibata seven-thousand-series cars, ready to leave.
If you would rather hand the connections to someone else, guided tours that include Izumo Taisha are one option, and they suit a traveller with one day and no appetite for timetables; the trade is the early start, which is the whole point of going by rail. Either way, once you are at Izumo Taisha-mae, everything that follows is walking.
Through the Great Torii
The old records give the approach in three moves, and the sequence is still the useful way to walk it. In the old records the front of the grounds is said to be reached from Kizuki, the town at the foot of the hills, by passing through the great torii and going down a small slope.
Taking the great torii as the starting point, the way is described as going over that small slope to the entrance of the grounds. In practice: walk up the straight street from the railway to the torii at its head, pass beneath it, and let the path carry you down toward the gate rather than up to it.
Once through the main gate, look up before you look around. Inside the main gate a large torii of bronze is said to stand, and passing under it is the moment the approach ends and the grounds begin. From here the worship hall with its great rope is straight ahead.
The white torii that spans the road and its bridge, with the shrine's name on the plaque.
Where to stay
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What the Grounds Hold
Give the grounds an hour at least. They are described as covering some twenty-three thousand seven hundred tsubo, which is a little under eight hectares in today's terms, so a walk that takes in every corner is a real walk rather than a quick loop.
The worship hall, the shrine office, an assembly hall, halls for rites and for the sacred horses, a treasure house, a library and a pavilion for watching the festivals are said to be set around the grounds, with the main sanctuary at the centre. Walk with that centre as your fixed point: whichever path you take, you are circling it.
The worship hall is described as having a corridor on its west side, and the assembly hall as the building where visitors rest. A sensible order, then: the worship hall first, then the circuit around the main sanctuary, then the west corridor, and the assembly hall last, as a place to sit before you leave for the afternoon.
Older Names, and What the Shrine Keeps
The shrine is said to have carried several names over the centuries, Kizuki-no-miya and Izumo-no-miya among them, and the Engishiki, an old court register of rites, is said to record it as Kizuki Taisha and to rank it as a myōjin taisha, one of the great shrines of that register. The name on the white torii is the modern one.
A sword signed Mitsutada is said to have been worn by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A box and a miniature shrine in mother-of-pearl and gold lacquer, with a design of an autumn field, are described as among the oldest of their kind. Several hundred old documents are said to be kept here, beginning with a rinji, a personal edict, of Emperor Go-Daigo.
Whether any of these is on view depends on the day, so treat them as the reason the place feels as old as it does rather than as a checklist. If you want the history in more depth, read it on the ride home; in the morning, the grounds are better met without it.
An Afternoon at the Hinomisaki Lighthouse
The lighthouse at Hinomisaki stands on a headland to the north-west, a white stone tower set on sheer rock above the sea. It is the natural second half of the day: the ride out is a rest after the morning's walking, and the view from the gallery at the top is the reason to make the effort.
- Getting there: from JR Izumoshi Station, the Ichibata bus to the Hinomisaki Lighthouse stop takes about an hour.
- The last leg: from the bus stop, the walk to the lighthouse takes about five minutes.
- To climb the tower: the donation asked is three hundred yen for anyone of middle-school age or older.
- Last entry: reception ends twenty minutes before each morning or afternoon session ends.
| When | The tower can be climbed |
|---|---|
| Mornings, all year | from nine until noon |
| Afternoons, March to September, weekends and similar days | from one until five |
| Afternoons, March to September, weekdays | from one until half past four |
| Afternoons, October to February | from one until half past four |
Two things follow from the table. In the colder months the afternoon window is short, so leave the shrine by early afternoon at the latest if the climb matters. And because reception ends before each session does, arriving at the tower with a few minutes in hand is the difference between climbing and looking up from the foot.
The timing above is measured from JR Izumoshi; if you are already at the shrine, ask at the tourist information whether the Hinomisaki service can be boarded closer by, rather than doubling back into the city. Then allow time after the climb for the paths along the headland, where the rock face and the sea do the rest.
The white stone tower at Hinomisaki, with the sea beyond the low wall.
Walking Back
The way back is described as the approach in reverse, along the same avenue to the great torii, beyond which mountain roads over the passes are said once to have continued. You are not crossing the passes, only walking back down the street to the railway, and late afternoon, when visitors tend to thin, suits it.
Before you go, a pine in front of the west corridor of the worship hall is said to have been planted by an honoured hand, and it makes a natural last stop. If there is still light, ask about the walk to the beach at Inasa; the marker stone in the photograph stands where the paving meets the sand.
The stone marker at Inasa beach, with a rock islet just offshore.
If the day has run long, places to stay in Izumo let you be at the gate at first light tomorrow without the early departure, and a second morning means the grounds again while they are still. Otherwise it is the same railway back: the small carriages to Dentetsu-Izumoshi, the walk over to JR Izumoshi, and whatever carries you on.