IZUMO, SHIMANEWhere the Gods Gather, and Steel Is Born

The Path the Gods Walk

The Last Tatara Village

Inside the Iron Workshop

The Moment Before the Cut

Two Blades Meet

Every Movement, Refined

The Swordsmith and His Blade

Holding the Folded Steel

Once a year, in the lunar month known to the rest of Japan as the month without gods, all of the country's deities are said to leave their home shrines and travel to Izumo, where the same month is called instead the month with gods. Izumo is one of the oldest sacred regions in Japan, and the same landscape is the setting of the country's oldest myths, including the story of the god Susanoo and the eight-headed serpent of the Hii River. Deep in the mountains inland, the iron sand of that same river has been forged into Japanese swords for more than 1,400 years. You ride a rickshaw along the Path of Welcoming Gods, where the deities of all Japan are said to gather, and walk through the country's only surviving tatara village. You then sit with a master swordsmith who holds the rank of Mukansa, the highest given to a living swordsmith in Japan, as he places a finished blade in your hands. Few foreign travelers reach this part of Japan. The roads wind deep into the Chugoku mountains, the trains are slow, and the towns have kept the shape of an older time.

CustomisableEvery detail can be shaped around you.

Access map: IZUMO, SHIMANE Where the Gods Gather, and Steel Is Born

Experience Stories

The Path of Welcoming Gods, by Rickshaw

Once a year, the gods of all Japan are said to gather in Izumo. The route they are believed to take is called the Path of Welcoming Gods. With a local guide, you ride a rickshaw along this path, from the historic Old Taisha Station to Inasa-no-Hama, the beach where the gods are received. Your guide tells you the old myths and how the people of Izumo still live alongside them today.

Walking Japan's Only Surviving Tatara Village

Tatara is Japan's ancient way of making steel, with a 1,400-year history in this region. Ironworkers burned iron sand with charcoal in a clay furnace for three days and nights without rest, producing tamahagane, the pure steel used to forge Japanese swords. Okuizumo, rich in iron sand and surrounded by forests for charcoal, became the heart of this craft. Sugaya Tatara Sannai, deep in the village of Yoshida, is the only tatara ironworks left in the country. You walk through the village and step inside the takadono, the tall workshop where the furnace once burned. Standing in the wide, high-roofed space, you understand the scale and heat of the work that shaped this region.

Visiting the Estate of the Iron Masters

The families who controlled tatara ironmaking grew wealthy and powerful under the Matsue domain. You visit the estate of one such family, where rows of white-walled storehouses still stand at the center of the village. The scale of the buildings is quiet evidence of how deeply iron shaped not only the craft, but the life and land of Okuizumo.

A Private Performance at the Samurai Dojo

At a traditional samurai dojo, you watch a private performance of iai and kenjutsu. These are not staged shows but real martial disciplines, the drawing of the blade and the precise movements that a samurai trained in for a lifetime. Seeing them up close, in silence, you understand the focus and control behind the steel.

Meeting Master Swordsmith Kubo Yoshihiro at the Itohara Residence

At the historic Itohara residence, you sit with Kubo Yoshihiro, a swordsmith who holds the rank of Mukansa, the highest designation in his craft. The title is given by the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords to only a small number of living smiths whose work has been judged, over many years, to exceed the standard of competition. Guided by the maker himself, you hold a finished sword in your own hands and feel the weight, the balance, and the texture of the folded steel.

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