Miyagi · Matsushima BayNo.819★★★Open in map →
Matsushima Bay
A bay on Miyagi's Pacific coast strewn with pine-topped islets, two of them joined to the shore by footbridges. Everything worth seeing sits within a short walk of one station, so the whole place can be done on foot.
- FromSendai Station
- ~40 minJR Senseki Line, direct
- Get off atMatsushima-Kaigan Station (JR Senseki Line)
- On foot
- Matsushima Bay
Where it is
23 more notes in Miyagi · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Oshima Islanda low rock island reached by the vermilion Togetsu Bridge, its cliffs cut with memorial caves
- Fukuurajima Islanda wooded island tied to the shore by a long red footbridge, with paths around its edge
- Godaidoa small hall on its own rock, free to approach, reached by a plank bridge you can see the sea through
- Entsuina moss garden and mausoleum beside Zuiganji, known for a Western rose motif
- Zuiganjithe Date family Zen temple, its main hall and kitchen block both National Treasures
How to actually get there
- Sendai Station → Matsushima-Kaigan Station (JR Senseki Line, local for Ishinomaki, about 40 min, no transfer).
- From the station, walk down to the shore and cross the Togetsu Bridge onto Oshima.
- Follow the shoreline to the Fukuura Bridge and out to Fukuurajima, then come back to Godaido beside the central pier.
- Finish inland at Entsuin and Zuiganji, or board the sightseeing boat at the pier instead.
- JR Senseki Line, direct from Sendai
- Sendai Station →(JR Senseki Line, local service for Ishinomaki, about 40 min)→ Matsushima-Kaigan Station. No transfer. IC fare 440 yen at the time of checking. Trains run through the day, so there is no timetable to plan around.
- Return from Matsushima-Kaigan Station
- Take the Senseki Line back to Sendai from the same station. Services thin out after the evening peak, so check the last departure on the platform if you stay for dinner. The Tohoku Main Line at Matsushima Station is faster but leaves you a long walk from the waterfront.
About the place
Matsushima is a shallow bay on the Pacific coast of Miyagi, scattered with roughly 260 pine-topped islets. The bay is a drowned valley: the land sank, seawater filled the hollows, and the old hilltops were left standing as islands. Several municipalities share the shoreline, but the sightseeing core is a few hundred metres of it in Matsushima town, between the station and the central pier. Two of the islands, Oshima and Fukuurajima, are linked to that shore by footbridges. Along the same strip stand a Zen temple complex and a small hall built out on its own rock.
How to enjoy it
The bay cruise from the central pier runs a 50-minute loop, roughly once an hour through the middle of the day, so it fits around a walk rather than dictating it. Do the bridges first — Oshima, then Fukuurajima, then Godaido — and keep the temples for the afternoon, once the boat crowds have moved on.
Background & history
The shoreline hall known as Godaido was rebuilt by the warlord Date Masamune in 1604, and is described as the oldest surviving Momoyama-period building in Tohoku. In 1609 his restored Zuiganji was completed, and it served afterwards as the Date family temple. Matsushima was also a place for the dead: the cliffs of Oshima are cut with caves holding memorial steles, and the district was once called the Koya of the north. The poet Matsuo Basho stopped here on the journey recorded in The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Before you go
- Cash
- Godaido is free to enter. Zuiganji, Entsuin and Kanrantei each charge their own admission at the gate. The bay cruise was 1,500 yen for adults and 750 yen for primary-school children at the time of checking, with tickets sold at the pier.
- Before you go
- Godaido closes in the late afternoon, and the plank bridge to it has deliberate gaps in the decking, so it cannot be crossed in a wheelchair. In winter the last afternoon sailing may not run because the light goes early.
- Another way
- The JR Tohoku Main Line reaches Matsushima Station from Sendai in about 25 minutes, but rapid services do not stop there and the walk to the waterfront takes about 20 minutes. Boats also run from Marine Gate Shiogama, near Hon-Shiogama Station.
- After you get off
- From Matsushima-Kaigan Station, head for the water. The central pier is about six minutes on foot and Godaido about seven; the Togetsu Bridge across to Oshima is about five minutes the other way along the shore.