Shrines, museums, parks, and the spots in between, with the access details worked out.
Okayama park themed as a German forest, with animal encounters, seasonal flower gardens, German food, go-karts, archery and craft workshops.
Akaiwa · OkayamaA 1,780-metre toll-free bridge from Shimonoseki to the island of Tsunoshima, crossing cobalt blue water and white sand on the north Yamaguchi coast.
Shimonoseki · YamaguchiThe floating shrine of Miyajima, built out over a tidal cove, with its great vermilion torii standing in the sea off the sacred island.
Hatsukaichi · HiroshimaMankusen Shrine in Izumo is said to be the last stop for the gods of Japan before they return home.
Izumo · ShimaneBeach on the Japan Sea west of Izumo Taisha, setting of the Kojiki myth of the land handover and the shore where the gods of Japan are welcomed each year.
Izumo · ShimaneShrine near Matsue with three halls side by side, where the gods gather each November to remember Izanami, and home of the UNESCO-listed Sada Shinno dance.
Matsue · ShimaneSoto Zen temple in Yamaguchi on the former Ouchi clan residence site, with a Muromachi-period main hall that is an Important Cultural Property.
YamaguchiShinto shrine in Shimonoseki for the child Emperor Antoku, who died at the Battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, with a gate modelled on the Dragon God's sea palace.
Shimonoseki · YamaguchiA private art museum beside Okayama Castle, built on businessman Hayashibara Ichiro's collection and the treasures of the Ikeda daimyo family.
OkayamaCastle built by Mori Terumoto from 1589 on the Ota River delta. Its keep, rebuilt after the 1945 atomic bombing, closed in 2026; the grounds stay open.
HiroshimaMuseum of large sculptures made of sand by invited sculptors from around the world, on a new country or region for each exhibition, by the Tottori Sand Dunes.
TottoriA hot spring town on the Tamayu River, praised in the Nara-period Izumo Fudoki for water that beautifies the skin, and once a centre of magatama making.
Matsue · ShimaneMuseum of sand near the singing-sand beach Kotogahama, home to Sunagoyomi, a 5.2-meter hourglass that runs for one year and is turned over each New Year's Eve.
Oda · ShimaneHistory museum opened in 1971 by Korakuen garden, holding archaeology, documents, arts and crafts, folklore, swords and armor, and Bizen ware.
OkayamaArt museum of Yamaguchi Prefecture, opened in 1979, collecting artists linked to Yamaguchi, from the ink painter Sesshu to Kazuki Yasuo and his Siberia Series.
YamaguchiCity museum in Kure on the history and technology of the naval port, centered on a 1/10 scale model of the battleship Yamato, built at the Kure Naval Arsenal.
Kure · HiroshimaArt center in Yamaguchi City working with media technology, opened in 2003, with exhibition space, a cinema, a library and its own research lab, YCAM InterLab.
YamaguchiA prefectural art museum by Kikutake Kiyonori on the shore of Lake Shinji, with about 1,600 works by Hokusai and a rooftop terrace facing the lake.
Matsue · Shimane
