Inasa Beach

Inasa-no-Hama, or Inasa Beach, is a gentle crescent of pale sand on the Sea of Japan coast, just a short walk downhill from the towering approach of Izumo Taisha. To the casual eye it is simply a pretty, uncrowded beach with clear water and a famous rock rising near the shore, but in the mythology of Japan it is one of the most sacred stretches of coastline in the entire country — the very place where the land was handed over to the gods, and where those gods return each year.

Inasa Beach appears in the ancient chronicles as the setting for the pivotal myth of kuni-yuzuri, the "transfer of the land," in which the deity Okuninushi, ruler of Izumo, agreed to cede his earthly kingdom to the heavenly descendants of the sun goddess in return for the building of Izumo Taisha. The negotiation is said to have taken place on this shore. Even more evocatively, the beach is the gateway through which the eight million deities of Japan arrive from across the sea during the lunar tenth month, when they gather at Izumo Taisha for their annual conference. Each year a solemn nighttime ceremony, the Kamimukae-sai or welcoming of the gods, is held here on the sand: priests light sacred fires and, amid great reverence, receive the invisible deities as they come ashore before escorting them to the shrine.

The beach's most distinctive feature is Bentenjima, a rounded rock crowned with a small torii gate and shrine that rises dramatically from the sand near the water's edge. Once surrounded by the sea, it now stands amid the beach at most tides and has become the iconic image of Inasa, especially at sunset when its silhouette is framed against the glowing western sky. Because the coast faces west, the beach is a superb place to watch the sun sink into the Sea of Japan, and photographers gather in the late afternoon to catch the light behind the little torii.

Beyond its mythological weight, Inasa is simply a lovely, tranquil spot. The sand is soft, the water clean enough for summer swimming, and the whole beach has a calm, unspoiled feel far removed from the bustle of the shrine approach. Interpretive signs explain the legends, and the setting — sacred rock, open sea, pine-clad hills — has a quiet grandeur.

A visit takes only half an hour or so and combines perfectly with Izumo Taisha just uphill and the Hinomisaki cape a little further along the coast. Whether you come to stand on the mythical threshold where gods and land changed hands, to see the famous Bentenjima rock, or simply to watch one of the finest sunsets in Shimane, Inasa Beach is an essential and deeply atmospheric part of any pilgrimage to the land of Izumo.