Shimane · Izumo, TaishaNo.806★★★Open in map →
Inasa Beach
A west-facing sand beach a short walk from Izumo Oyashiro, with a rock islet standing just offshore. Izumo has read this shoreline as the place where the sun goes down for as long as its myths have been written down.
- FromIzumo-shi Station
- ~40 minIchibata bus, Hinomisaki line
- Get off atInasa-no-hama-iriguchi (Ichibata Bus, Hinomisaki Line)
- On foot
- Inasa Beach
Where it is
14 more notes in Shimane · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Bentenjimathe rounded islet off the sand, with a torii and stone steps up to the shrine on its crown
- The white sand shorelinea wide, west-facing strand running the length of the bay
- Byobu-iwathe screen-shaped rock closing the southern end of the beach
- Izumo Oyashirothe great shrine inland to the east, linked to the beach by a level street
How to actually get there
- Izumo-shi Station → Inasa-no-hama-iriguchi (Ichibata Bus, Hinomisaki line, about 40 minutes).
- Inasa-no-hama-iriguchi → the shore (walk west, one to two minutes).
- Walk the sand end to end, then take the street east to Izumo Oyashiro on foot.
- Ichibata Bus, Hinomisaki line from Izumo-shi Station
- From JR Izumo-shi Station take the Ichibata Bus on the Hinomisaki line and get off at Inasa-no-hama-iriguchi. The Izumo Tourism Association gives the ride as about forty minutes. This is a timetabled country route rather than a frequent one, so read the departure board before you set out.
- Return to Izumo-shi Station
- Pick up the same Hinomisaki line bus from the stop on the inland side of the road. Services thin out after dark, so if you are staying for the sunset, note the last departure when you arrive. The fallback is to walk east to Izumo Oyashiro and take the Ichibata Railway from Izumo-taisha-mae Station.
About the place
Inasa Beach faces west from the Taisha district of Izumo, on the seaward rim of the Shimane Peninsula. The bay curves, the sand is pale, and the shore is counted among Japan's hundred selected beaches. Just off the strand stands Bentenjima, a rounded rock islet crowned by a small shrine and close enough to reach on foot when the water is out. Behind the sand the road runs back inland toward Izumo Oyashiro, so most visitors take the beach and the great shrine as one loop. Nothing along this stretch is gated, ticketed or fixed to opening hours.
How to enjoy it
Come in the last hour of daylight: the wet sand turns to mirror and the islet reads as a black silhouette against the water. For a brighter, emptier version, mid-morning is wide open, and the walk over to the great shrine takes about fifteen minutes each way. Check the wind and the forecast first, because the bay is fully exposed and a grey sky flattens the whole effect.
Background & history
The beach belongs to the kuniyuzuri, the negotiated handover of the land from Okuninushi to the heavenly deities that Japan's oldest chronicles set on this coast. Byobu-iwa, the screen-shaped rock at the southern end of the bay, is named as the place the two sides talked. Each autumn the gods of the country are received on this sand before they move inland to Izumo Oyashiro. The Agency for Cultural Affairs has recognised the sunset seen from this shoreline as a Japan Heritage story, Izumo, the Sacred Land of the Setting Sun.
Before you go
- Cash
- The beach itself is free and always open. Bus fares are paid on board as you get off, so carry coins and small notes rather than relying on a card.
- Good to know
- There are no gates and no closing time, but there is no lighting either once the sun is down. The bay is open to the north-west wind, the shoreline shelves unevenly and rip currents form here, so this is a shore for walking rather than for swimming.
- Another way
- From Matsue or the east, ride the Ichibata Railway to its terminus at Izumo-taisha-mae Station, changing at Kawato, then walk about twenty-five minutes west past Izumo Oyashiro to the water.
- After you get off
- The stop sits on the main road above the beach. Walk west for a minute or two and the sand opens in front of you, with the islet straight ahead.
Nearby notes
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On a curated routeThe Road West of Izumo →
Distances are straight lines on the map, not travel times.