Oshima (Munakata)

Oshima is an island of about 700 people, 7 kilometres off the Munakata coast, and the local World Heritage council calls it the largest island in Fukuoka Prefecture. It matters because of what you cannot visit. Okinoshima, far out in the Genkai Sea, is itself the deity of Munakata Taisha's Okitsu-miya shrine and is closed to everyone but its priests. The Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region, inscribed in 2017, has five component parts, and two of them are on Oshima.

The first is a five-minute walk from the ferry. Nakatsu-miya, the middle of Munakata Taisha's three shrines, enshrines the goddess Tagitsuhime. Its torii stands near the harbour facing the sea, and a steep flight of stone steps leads up to the main hall, which is a Fukuoka Prefecture cultural property. A stream called Ama-no-gawa, the Milky Way, runs through the grounds between two small shrines to the Cowherd and the Weaver, and the Tanabata festival on 7 August is the shrine's biggest event. Behind the main hall a 970-metre path climbs to the 224-metre summit of Mitake-yama, the original ritual site, where on a clear day you can see Okinoshima on one side and the whole Munakata coast on the other.

The second is the Okitsu-miya Yohaisho on the north shore, about 30 minutes on foot or 10 by bus from the port. It is a small hall facing the open sea, built in 1933; a stone dated 1749 shows there was a place of worship here by the mid-18th century. On a clear, dry day Okinoshima sits on the horizon. On a hazy one you see sea, so check the weather before you come.

On the mainland, Hetsu-miya at Tashima, the main shrine of Munakata Taisha with its treasure hall of finds from Okinoshima, is easy to pair with Oshima in one day. On the island, the Oshima Exchange Hall explains the island's history and is open 10:00 to 16:00. The ferry is cash only and takes no reservations, and the last boat back leaves at 18:00.