Last week, I wrote about my Tottori adventure, and today, I wanted to write about my adventure in Shimane. Shimane is located directly next to Tottori prefecture so I traveled by car during the same trip!

Probably the most famous tourist location in Shimane is the Izumo Taisha (Izumo Grand Shrine)

 

 It is considered to be one of Japan's most important shrines. There are no records of exactly when Izumo Taisha was built, but it is often considered the oldest shrine in Japan, being already in existence in the early 700s! 

This is what the main part look like. 

The reason why Izumo is considered one of Japan's most important shrine is because the main God enshrined at Izumo Taisha is Okuninushi no Okami. According to the creation myths, Okuninushi was the creator of the land of Japan and the ruler of Izumo!

 

After visiting the Great Shrine, we moved on to yet another faomus spot, "Mizuki Shigeru Roard" Mizuki Shigeru is one of Japan's most famous manga artist. His best known series is called the "Gegege no Kitaro". Which has numerous numbers of the dead mosters called "Yokai" (Close to zomies, but yet a little different)

This is what the main character look like. (The one in yellow and black stripes) So in the manga, there are hunderds of Yokai characters, and throughout this road, you get to meet a whole bunch of them!

There are so many that you never get bored walking around this area. Yokais come in varieties of forms including bronze statues, real size sculputures, and even in a real cartoon character costumes! It's interesting even f you don't really know the manga. And! even more, they have Yokai themed food as well!!

Yokai lattes. 

Yokai manju (sweet buns) on a stick, and even bread!!

There's more! We had to rush through the area due to time limitation, (our flight almost left us... it was that much fun) it made us want to stop at every store, every location to take pictures. This road is located in Shimane because the author Mizuki Shigeru was born in Shimane. 

 

Overall, Tottir and Shimane Prefecture trip was a huge success. It is definitely not the most famous or popular place to visit, but with the combination of nature, history, and culture, it is definitely worth the travel! I do suggest renting a car once you get there, since it will be easier to travel between the prefectures! (And you have control over your time).