Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo

Standing right beside the sacred precinct of Izumo Taisha, the Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo is the finest place in Japan to understand the deep history and mythology of the San'in region. Opened in 2007 in a striking modern building of glass, steel and rust-red weathered plate, the museum sets out to explain both the archaeology and the legends of Izumo, the ancient province that Japan's oldest chronicles describe as a land of gods rivalling the imperial centre.

The museum's showpiece is its collection of Bronze Age treasures, which are of national importance and include designated National Treasures. In 1984 archaeologists excavating a hillside at Kojindani, not far away, unearthed an astonishing hoard of 358 bronze swords buried in neat rows — more than had been found in the whole of the rest of Japan combined up to that point — along with bronze spearheads and bells. A second nearby site, Kamoiwakura, yielded a remarkable cache of 39 large ceremonial bronze bells (dotaku). Displayed together in a dramatic gallery, these gleaming and green-patinated objects transformed scholars' understanding of ancient Izumo, proving it was a powerful and sophisticated centre of Yayoi-period ritual and metalwork, not a mythological invention.

Equally memorable is the museum's treatment of Izumo Taisha itself. Old records claimed the shrine's original main hall stood atop enormous pillars, raised far higher than any wooden building had a right to be — a claim long dismissed as legend, until in the year 2000 the massive bundled bases of three great columns were discovered on the shrine grounds. The museum displays these actual excavated pillar bases and presents a soaring scale model reconstructing the ancient hall reached by a staircase over a hundred metres long, giving visitors a vivid sense of the shrine's mythic grandeur. A collection of illustrated scrolls and models further traces how the shrine was rebuilt across the centuries.

Beyond these highlights, the galleries explore the folklore of the "month with gods," when the deities of Japan gather at Izumo; the fudoki, the ancient regional gazetteer that uniquely survives for this province; and the everyday life, crafts and beliefs of the people who lived along the Izumo coast in prehistoric and early historic times. Displays are well presented with English explanations, making the museum genuinely accessible to international visitors, and a central hall, cafe and museum shop round out the experience.

Because it sits directly next to Izumo Taisha, the museum is best visited together with the shrine, ideally beforehand, so that the great rope, the towering architecture and the matchmaking rituals make far richer sense once you understand the archaeology and mythology behind them. Allow around ninety minutes. For anyone with an interest in history, archaeology or the roots of Japanese religion, the Shimane Museum of Ancient Izumo turns a visit to the land of the gods from a scenic pilgrimage into a genuine journey into Japan's ancient past.