Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, Hayley Gauvin has lived in Sendai since 2017. She works in translation and international projects. She also produces a variety of media content about Japan’s people, places, and traditions for a foreign audience, with an emphasis on the Tohoku region.
Back in Vancouver, it was not unusual for me to hop on a ferry to an island, get away from the city, and immerse myself in nature from time to time. Living in Sendai, I’m lucky to have the beautiful Miyagi coastline to do the same. I recently learned that the Urato Islands are surprisingly easy to access from Shiogama, so I’ve packed all I need for a day in a small backpack and have come to the ferry terminal. The municipal ferry will take me from Marine Gate Shiogama to the Urato Islands in about 30 minutes for a day of island hopping, exploring, and new discoveries.
The Urato Islands are connected by the municipal ferry route, as well as a system of local ferries, which I am amazed to learn are completely free. Today, I’ll be exploring 3 of them: Katsurashima, Nonoshima, and Sabusawajima. This route also happens to be part of the Michinoku Coastal Trail. There is official signage at each port with maps in 5 languages, making the trail accessible to travelers from abroad.
After passing through scenic Matsushima Bay, I arrive at Katsurashima. My route begins at Matsuzaki Shrine at the foot of the island’s eastern cliffs. I pay my respects and enter the trail, passing through a tunnel of bright red camellia in full bloom. At my feet, the ground is sprinkled with pink petals like confetti – peach blossoms blown on the wind. An invigorating breeze rolls in from the ocean. On my right are amazing views of Matsushima Bay from a new perspective. It feels like I’m a world away from the city already! I head west, descending to Katsurashima beach and passing a charming garden of tulips and daffodils on my way. Near Ishihama where the ferry waits, I notice some man-made caves carved into the cliffs. I later learn that these are called bora. The bora are now filled with fishing and boating gear, but legend has it that they were used long ago by smugglers for stashing booty.
From Katsurashima, I take a small, 12-seat vessel to Nonoshima. No ticket or payment is needed. Though you can make a reservation in advance, it’s not necessary, and if a boat isn’t waiting when you arrive at the dock, you simply call them and they come to pick you up!
I arrive around lunchtime, so I make a stop at the ‘Urato Lounge Nonohana’ rest house. Inside, I find artwork by local schoolchildren and lots of material about the Urato Islands. Perusing pamphlets over my packed lunch, I learn that this place is the first in Japan where the seeds of Chinese cabbage were successfully harvested. The islands are still famous for Chinese cabbage and its bright yellow canola flowers. Not just yellow, Nonoshima is also known for the stunning purple of its lavender fields in June. I’m too early for lavender season, but my walk is brightened by a number of spring blossoms in flower beds planted here by volunteers and schoolchildren. Before my next ferry, I stop at Unehama Beach. It has a breathtaking view of several small islands, one of which is close enough to walk to in low tide. What an amazing place, I think to myself, and clearly, I’m not the only one. Quite a few people are here, soaking up the warm spring sun or having lunch.
My last island of the day is Sabusawajima. Although it’s separated from Nonoshima by a narrow channel of only 200 meters or so, there is no bridge, so I take a 3-minute ferry trip, the shortest of my life! Like the other Urato Islands, Sabusawajima is quiet, with not even one shop (a sign of the 2011 tsunami’s effects). However, during the Edo period, it was a bustling port and shipyard of the Sendai Domain. It was also a place where tax, in the form of rice, was stored and transported to the capital. On my way Sabusawajima’s eastern cliffs, I pass huge stone tablets. One of them is a monument to the Kaisei Maru, Japan’s first Western-style warship, built in 1858 by the Date clan. Next to the Kaisei Maru monument is a sign board which tells another local story: that of a man named Tsudayu. At the end of the 18th Century, he and his crewmates became the first Japanese people to circumnavigate the globe when their ship from Ishinomaki sailed off course!
I begin to realize there is a wealth of history here as I continue on the trail to the eastern cliffs and more monuments: a compass stone with the 12 animals of the zodiac carved on it, the shibari jizo statue to which women would pray to keep the sailors from setting off to sea, and further south down the trail through a thick bamboo forest, the remains of a battery built by the Date clan in 1867.
In just a day I’ve seen so much, and yet it’s still not even half the treasures the Urato Islands hold. As I cruise back to Shiogama, I make plans to come back soon and wonder what riches can be found along the other sections of the Michinoku Coastal Trail. After all, the days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, and this summer’s adventures have just begun.
