Matsushima
Interesting facts
- Matsushima has four classic viewpoints, named the Magnificent, Beautiful, Enchanting and Grand Views, on the hills of Otakamori, Tomiyama, Ogitani and Tamonzan.
- According to folklore, anyone who sailed through the five-metre Chōmei-ana arch on Komonejima would live three years longer; the arch collapsed in the 2011 earthquake.
- The red Togetsukyō bridge, about 20 metres long, that led to the poetic islet of Ojima was swept away entirely by the 2011 tsunami.
- Excavations show that the site of Zuigan-ji was a salt-making furnace in the Heian period, casting doubt on the temple's claimed founding in 828.
- One theory holds that Date Masamune rebuilt Zuigan-ji as a hidden fortress, with a special room prepared to receive the Emperor.
- The main hall of Zuigan-ji holds a set of 161 sliding-door paintings in rich colours on gold backgrounds.
- The Godai-dō hall on its islet guards Heian-period statues of the Five Wisdom Kings, shown to the public only once every 33 years.
- Zuigan-ji switched from the Tendai to the Zen school in the Kamakura period, and records describe the Tendai monks being expelled by force.
- Matsushima was a favourite subject of woodblock printmakers; Yōshū Chikanobu portrayed the bay in an ukiyo-e print in 1898.
Why it is worth it
Matsushima is a bay on the Pacific coast of Miyagi Prefecture scattered with some 260 small islands, each a knob of rock crowned with twisted pines, which give the place its name: matsu means pine. For centuries it has counted among the Three Views of Japan, a ranking traced to a 1643 book by the scholar Hayashi Gahō that set Matsushima beside the sandbar of Amanohashidate and the shrine island of Itsukushima.
The bay's fame owes much to poets. Matsuo Bashō came here in 1689 on the journey he recorded in The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The best-known verse about the place, which simply repeats the name in wonder, is popularly credited to him, but it first appeared in an 1820 guidebook and is attributed to the kyōka poet Tawara-bō; the only haiku on Matsushima from that journey was written by Bashō's companion, Kawai Sora. Each November the town still holds a Bashō festival.
On the shore stands Zuigan-ji, a Zen temple of the Rinzai school whose tradition dates its founding to 828. Its present buildings were raised between 1604 and 1609 by Date Masamune, the warlord who ruled from nearby Sendai, using timber brought from the Kumano mountains and craftsmen from Kyoto; their bold Momoyama style makes the main hall a National Treasure. Masamune left his mark on the bay too: the island of Senganjima was said to be his favourite. Smaller sites around the shore include the temple of Entsū-in, the Kanrantei teahouse and the ancient Satohama shell mound.
The islands also proved a shield. When the 2011 tsunami struck this coast, they broke the force of the waves, and the town suffered relatively little damage compared with its neighbours, though three people died here.
Getting there
Matsushima lies about 14 km from Sendai, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. Matsushima-Kaigan Station on the JR Senseki Line stands by the waterfront, and Matsushima Station on the Tōhoku Main Line is nearby. The nearest airport is Sendai Airport (SDJ), about 28 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Matsushima (松島) is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan.
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