Yunotsu
A silver port, two old bathhouses, and kagura danced by the people who live here.
About Yunotsu
Yunotsu sits in a narrow valley that opens onto a small harbour on Shimane's Japan Sea coast, on the far side of the country from the bullet-train line most visitors follow. The old street runs for about 800 metres from the water, lined with townhouses, inns, shrines and temples built between the late Edo period and the early twentieth century.
It is a working town rather than a resort. The bathhouses, the shrine and the kagura belong to the people who live here, and visitors are received less as customers than as temporary neighbours. This itinerary is built around that: a night or two in the town itself, with Izumo Taisha and the Iwami Ginzan silver mine on the way in.
History
Silver was found at Iwami Ginzan in 1527. By the early seventeenth century Japan is said to have produced around a third of the world's silver, much of it from this mine. Yunotsu was its outer port: supplies came in through the town, and silver went out from the small inlet of Okidomari next door.
The town kept trading after the silver shipments stopped. From 1704 its kilns made large water jars that were shipped around Japan, and one of the country's largest surviving climbing kilns is still fired here each spring and autumn. In 2004 Yunotsu was selected as a preservation district for its historic buildings, and in 2007 it became part of the Iwami Ginzan World Heritage site.
The Experiences
Culture
Iwami Kagura at the Town Shrine
Craft
Kagura Masks, Made From Paper
Story
Into the Silver Mine Valley
Itinerary Preview
To Izumo
A short flight from Tokyo to Izumo, on the Japan Sea side of western Japan. Your English-speaking guide meets you on arrival.
Izumo Taisha
One of Japan's most important shrines, dedicated to Okuninushi. Time to walk the grounds slowly and stand under the great rice-straw rope of the kagura hall, some thirteen metres long.
A Night in Izumo
Check in to a traditional inn in the Izumo area (category, not a named property), and dinner from the Japan Sea coast.
Omori and the Silver Mine
West along the coast to Omori, the mining town of Iwami Ginzan, its street of merchant and samurai houses running some 2.8 km up a narrow valley.
Into the Mine
Where it is open, a walk into one of the old mine galleries, cut by hand into the hillside, then a simple lunch in Omori before the drive down to the coast.
Yunotsu, on Foot
The harbour, the old street, and the houses that went up after the fire of 1747. The town is small enough to walk end to end, and nothing in it is arranged for a crowd.
Iwami Kagura
Almost every Saturday night the kagura is performed in the worship hall of the town's shrine: drums, flute, gold-embroidered costumes and, on most nights, the serpent of Orochi filling the stage. On other nights, a private performance can be arranged in advance, with time to meet the dancers afterwards.
A Night in Yunotsu
A small inn in the town (category, not a named property), a short walk from the bathhouses.
The Town's Bath
An early bath at one of the old public bathhouses, alongside the people who live here. The water is hot; a few minutes is enough.
Masks and Kilns
Where it can be arranged, a visit to a kagura mask maker, whose masks are built from layers of Sekishu washi, the hand-made paper of the Iwami region, over a clay mould, light enough to dance in. Then the town's pottery and its old climbing kiln.
Departure
About an hour and twenty minutes by road back to Izumo Airport, and the flight to Tokyo.