Japan
Oki Islands
Cliff-girt islands of the Japan Sea where exiled emperors and bull sumo survive.
The cliffs drop straight into the sea. The Oki Islands sit in the Sea of Japan off Shimane, two hours by ferry from the mainland, and their western coast falls away so vertically that boats approaching see nothing but wall. Emperors were exiled here, bulls still lock horns in earthen rings, and the islands' geology, wildlife and way of life have earned them recognition as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
The Oki archipelago is both a Global Geopark and part of Daisen-Oki National Park, its volcanic coasts, grassland pastures and fishing villages all counted as landscape worth protecting. Two emperors were banished here after losing political struggles โ Go-Toba after the Jลkyลซ Rebellion of 1221, and Go-Daigo a century later โ and the islands still keep their memory in shrines, songs and even a sake brewed to a recipe an exiled emperor might have drunk. Bull sumo, in which cattle lock horns without riders, is the islands' oldest spectacle, and the sea gives the table sazae turban shells cooked into rice, curry and rice bowls, alongside the light-flavoured Oki beef from cattle raised on the island meadows.
Solo
The islands' isolation and their layered history โ geological, political, cultural โ reward the sustained attention of a traveller alone.
Couple
Cliff walks, a bull-sumo bout, and the shared adventure of reaching islands most Japanese have never visited.
- Sea cliffs fall sheer into the Sea of Japan along a coast recognised as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
- Bull sumo โ cattle locking horns in earthen rings, with no riders โ is the islands' oldest spectacle.
- Two emperors were exiled here, and the islands keep their memory in shrines, songs and a sake brewed to an imperial recipe.
- Sazae turban shells go into rice, curry and rice bowls, and the island's own beef is raised on meadows above the cliffs.
Sazae turban shells โ grilled in the shell, cooked into rice, or stirred into the islanders' own sazae curry.
Oki beef from cattle born and raised on the island meadows, marbled but surprisingly light, grilled as yakiniku.
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