Mihonoseki美保関

Pivot for marine traffic and trade with the Korean Peninsula. Scenic beauty with inlets, precipices and caves.

Mihonoseki is located in the area at the eastern edge of the Shimane-hanto Peninsula in northeastern Shimane through Sakai-Suido-Ohashi Bridge to Sakai-minato in Tottori. It is a port town that thrived as the pivot for marine traffic and trade with the Korean Peninsula from olden days. There is the Mihonoseki Lighthouse built with stones in the late 19th century at Jizo-zaki Point at the eastern edge of the peninsula. You can see a variety of natural beauty on the Miho-no-kitaura Coast on the northern side of the peninsula with inlets, precipices and caves, from a pleasure boat.

At the tip of the long, narrow peninsula on a hill overlooking the Mihonoseki Harbor stands the Miho-jinja Shrine with a long history first documented in the 8th century. This shrine is dedicated to two deities, and has a rare structure of two different styles of architecture for the principal sanctuaries. They celebrate the traditional ritual of Ao-fushi-gaki-Shinji that derives from a Japanese myth during which time a boat decorated with green brushwood fences cruises around Miho Bay.

In the western hills of Miho Harbor at the top of a 150-meter tall hill is a park called the Gohon-matsu Park. It has a hiking course to the Mihonoseki Lighthouse. You can take a lift to the hilltop to view the sights of Miho Bay.