Chugoku

world heritage sites

The Chugoku region is home to three of Japan's UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and Its Cultural Landscape

Oda - Registered as a World Heritage Site in 2007.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome)

Hiroshima - Registered as a World Heritage Site in 1996.

Itsukushima Shrine

Miyajima - Registered as a World Heritage Site in 1996.

gardens

This is a list of some of the areas most famous gardens however, there are many other beautiful gardens throughout the region:

Korakuen Garden

Okayama This is the most famous garden in the Chugoku region, as well as one of the top three gardens in all of Japan.

RSK Rose Garden

Okayama A large garden containing a wide variety of roses from all over the world.

Shurakuen Garden

Tsuyama A beautiful 17th century garden with no entry fee.

Miyama English Garden

Tamano An authentic English garden created by the British man Peter Thurman

Adachi Museum of Art

Yasugi Although there is a museum displaying over 1,000 works of art, the highlight of the museum for many is not the museum; it's the garden. Constructed in 1980, the garden is quite new but what it lacks in history it makes up for in size and beauty. This garden has been voted the best garden in Japan by the American Journal of Japanese Gardening.

Vogel Park

Matsue One of the largest greenhouses in the world, as well as an aviary.

Yuushien Garden

Matsue Built for beauty in every season, including winter when the camellia's bloom.

Enchoen Chinese Garden

Yurihama One of the largest Chinese gardens in Japan. Enchoen was first built in China, disassembled, and then rebuilt in Yurihama as a symbol of friendship between Tottori and China's Hebei Province.

Tulip Fields

Hiezu A garden full of beautiful red and yellow tulips.

Shukkeien Garden

Hiroshima An impressive garden built by Ueda Soko, considered to be one of the greatest masters of the tea ceremony.

Sesshutei Garden

Yamaguchi This garden is a reproduction of a scene from one of Sesshu's most famous landscape paintings.

Chōfu Garden

Shimonoseki One of the famous gardens in Castle town Chōfu.

nature

Seto Inland Sea Visible from Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi, the Seto Inland Sea contains many islands and the famous Seto Ohashi Bridge.

Akiyoshidai Plateau

Akiyoshidai The largest plateau in Japan

Akiyoshi Cave

Akiyoshidai The largest cave in Japan

Tottori Sand Dunes

Tottori Japan's famous sand dunes

Mount Daisen

Daisen The highest mountain in Western Japan, often referred to as the Fuji of the West.

Mount Fudekage

Mihara A popular place to visit in the winter to witness the Sea of Fog over the Seto Inland Sea

Taishakukyo Gorge

Shobara A scenic gorge containing Lake Shinyu and Onbashi, one of the largest natural bridges in the world.

temples and shrines

Although temples and shrines can be found in abundance throughout the region, these are some of the most important and most interesting temples and shrines in the Chugoku Region.

Izumo Shrine

Izumo The second holiest Shinto shrine Ise Shrine in Ise being number one and certainly one o the most impressive in Japan Izumo Shrine is dedicated to the god of marriage and happiness.

Itsukushima Shrine

Miyajima As Japan's most photographed shrine, one of the top three views in Japan, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site Itsukushima Shrine is highly valued for its spiritual, cultural, and historical significance and has the credentials to prove it.

Saijo Inari

Okayama Considered to be one of Japan's three great Inari shrines, Saijo Inari is sometimes referred to as a temple, because of its interesting combination of Buddhist and Shinto elements.

Mitokusan Nageiredo

Misasa A cliff-side temple that one has been able to determine how it was constructed.

Miho Shrine

Mihonoseki

Rurikoji Temple

Yamaguchi

Hofu Tenmangu

Hofu One of the Three Great Tenjin Shrines of Japan, it's a popular place to view plum blossoms.

Kozan-ji

Shimonoseki It is a national treasure, founded in 1327.

Sumiyoshi Shrine

Shimonoseki It is a national treasurenational treasure.

museums

There are many great museums in the region, and every prefecture has its own Prefectural Museum and Prefectural Art Museum that are worth visiting, but the following are some of the more unique and famous museums in the region.

Ohara Museum of Art

Kurashiki This museum has an impressive collection of Western art that anyone with even minimal knowledge about art should be able to recognize most of the artists. Although the European artwork is the museum's claim to fame, it also houses modern Japanese art and ancient Chinese artifacts in separate buildings of the museum grounds.

Atomic Bomb Memorial Museum

Hiroshima As one of only two cities to have ever been hit by an atomic bomb, this museum was built to educate people about the effects of atomic warfare on cities, objects, and of the greatest interest, people. The museums is well-designed and highly educational; a must-see for anyone travelling within the region.

Denchu Art Museum

Ibara

Okayama Orient Museum

Okayama An interesting little museum filled with artifacts from the ancient cultures of the Middle East.

Tsuyama Archives of Western Learning

Tsuyama One of the few museums dedicated to the teaching of Western learning and Japan's earliest interactions with the West.

Shimonoseki City Art Museum

Shimonoseki