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1 / 3The Basho boat, Shiogama to MatsushimaPhoto: 七厩拓 / CC BY-SA 4.0
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Arrive at Matsushima from the water, as the poet did in 1689: the boat leaves Marine Gate Shiogama on the hour and takes about fifty minutes through the islands. Train back from Matsushima-Kaigan.
Matsuo Basho travelled from Shiogama to Matsushima by boat in 1689 on the journey he wrote up as Oku no Hosomichi. The sightseeing boat that follows his route is named for him and threads the islands for about fifty minutes.
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
20 minutes each way is the honest figure for train + boat + train, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 4 hr 50 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~4hSome 260 pine-topped islets in a shallow bay, counted as one of Japan’s three classic views since the 17th century.
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Eat · ~2.5hBuy rice at one stall and slices of tuna and whatever else looks good at the others.
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See · ~2.5hThe head shrine of the region, up 202 stone steps on a hill over the harbour, with a vermilion gate and a view of the bay.
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