Travel Izumo: the Japanese city for people seeking love

Lying along the Sea of Japan in Shimane, the second-least populated of Japan's prefectures and, in 2023, the least-visited, Izumo is far off the Shinkansen bullet train track, making it one of the few cities in Japan that is easier to fly into. The city is home to Izumo Taisha, thought to be the country's oldest shrine and dedicated to Okuninushi, who is worshipped as the creator of Japan and the god of enmusubi in Japan's indigenous Shinto religion. "He is the god who governs things that cannot be seen by humans", such as fate, explained local guide Minori Maeda, "You could say he is the god of matchmaking. He brings people together; he has tremendous power." That's why Izumo Taisha has become popularly known as one of Japan's "power spots", a term that emerged in the 1990s to describe places, usually surrounded by nature, that are said to possess special powers to generate good luck, better health or, in this case, love. While the philosophy of power spots is a fuzzy grab bag of Shintoism, new age spirituality, feng shui and marketing, its popularity over the last few decades has increased tourism to places like Izumo. More than seven million people visited the shrine in 2023, according to Izumo City, including around 350 couples who got married there.

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