Matsushima

There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) – hence the name – and it is considered to be one of the Three Views of Japan.

Nearby cultural properties include Zuigan-ji, Entsū-in, Kanrantei, and the Satohama shell mound.

While often attributed to Matsuo Bashō, the earliest known publication is in the Matsushima Zushi (松島図誌), published in 1820 over a century after Bashō's death, which attributes it to the kyōka poet Tawara-bō (田原坊).

The town is only a short distance (thirty minutes, about 14 km) from prefectural capital Sendai and is easily accessible by train.

Despite the proximity of Matsushima to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the area was protected by the islands and suffered relatively little damage.

Kameshima
Kanejima, one of the many famous islands that dot the archipelago
The view from Godaido
Sagakei at Matsushima
One of the islands of Matsushima
One of the islands of Matsushima
Chōmei-ana in Komonejima, about five meters in height, was known in folklore that people who passed through there in a pleasure boat would live three years longer. However it collapsed in the Sendai earthquake . [ 1 ]
Ojima whose name is Utamakura . The red "Togetsukyō Bridge", about twenty meters in length, was wholly lost in the Sendai earthquake. [ 1 ]
Another view
Sea gulls at Matsushima
(video) Several islands in 2008 before the Tōhoku earthquake changed their appearance.
Scenic view of Matsushima. Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Yōshū Chikanobu , 1898
Zuiganji at Matsushima