Matsushima Bay

Matsushima scatters some 260 islets across a silver bay - each one a sculpted knuckle of white rock crowned with wind-bent pines - and has ranked among the official Three Views of Japan since scholars first codified the country's scenery in the 17th century. Legend insists the haiku master Basho arrived and found himself lost for words; the bay still does that. Cruise boats thread the islets on loops from the harbour, red bridges step out to the closer islands - meditation-cave Oshima and the long crossing to Fukuurajima's botanical paths - and the shore holds serious history: Zuigan-ji, the great Zen temple rebuilt in 1609 by the one-eyed warlord Date Masamune, with its cedar avenue and gilded chambers, and the little Godaido pavilion standing photogenically on its own rock. Winter adds the bay's famous oysters to the argument.

What you actually see

• The islet cruise - pine-crowned rocks sliding past by boat.
• Zuigan-ji - Date Masamune's gilded Zen temple behind the cedar avenue.
• Godaido pavilion - the tiny temple on its own islet, symbol of the bay.
• Fukuurajima's red bridge - the long walk out to an island of paths and pines.

When to go

The bay composes in any season - snow-dusted pines in January, luminous haze in summer. Winter through early spring is oyster season, when the shorefront grills work hardest.

Honest expectations

Matsushima is a classic domestic day trip and weekends feel like it - boats and bridges queue. The scenery is exquisite rather than dramatic; travellers expecting fjord-scale drama should recalibrate to ink-painting scale. Some cruise loops broadcast commentary at volume - the upper deck is the refuge.

Nearby

Sendai city, the temple town of Yamadera and the Sanriku coast northward.