Matsushima Bay

Matsushima scatters some 260 islets across the bay, most of them pale 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. The haiku poet Basho came here in 1689 on the journey he wrote up as The Narrow Road to the Deep North. 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.

Highlights

• 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.

Good to know

Matsushima is a classic domestic day trip and weekends feel like it - boats and bridges queue. The scenery is fine-grained rather than dramatic, on the scale of an ink painting. 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.

Key facts