Izumo Taisha Shrine

Today's first visit was to the Izumo Taisha Shrine which is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan, possibly the oldest. They don't actually know when it was built, but it is in records from 950. It's hard to believe that until 1744, they rebuilt it every 60 to 70 years! There were numerous shrines here, rough guess, about 30, all of different sizes. It's fascinating to watch people worship here... 2 bows, 4 claps, 1 bow. At other shrines it is only 2 claps, but because the shrine's association with marriage and relationships, the additional 2 claps are for the person's partner too. The top 2 photos are from Izumo Taisha.

After lunch we hadded back to Matsue and a beach to the north, then a shrine to the east where we could see Mount Daisen across the water which is a dormant volcano. Then we drove up to the Mihonoseki Lighthouse and saw the sunset.

A much more relaxed day, much less walking, we move on tomorrow.