If you pray for love in Izumo, there's a good chance you'll be heard. Every year, eight million gods gather in this seaside city to decide the fate of humans' relationships.

The romance of air travel still exists. At least that's the impression when you land at Japan's auspiciously named Izumo Enmusubi Airport. Translating roughly to "the tying (musubi) of bonds (en)", or, more popularly, "matchmaking", the word enmusubi encompasses many of the relationships that are part of life, such as those with family, friends and work, but most often references romantic entanglements. This connotation is in the air as you step off the plane and walk past a statue of a jovial god named Okuninushi, known as the "great matchmaking power", and a rack of ema (wooden prayer plaques) inscribed with travellers' romantic wishes.

It may seem like travellers here have love on the mind, and that's because if you pray for love in Izumo, there's a good chance you'll be heard.

Lying along the Sea of Japan in Shimane, the second-least populated of Japan's prefectures and, in 2023, the least-visited, Izumo is far off the Shinkansen bullet train track, making it one of the few cities in Japan that is easier to fly into. The city is home to Izumo Taisha, thought to be the country's oldest shrine and dedicated to Okuninushi, who is worshipped as the creator of Japan and the god of enmusubi in Japan's indigenous Shinto religion.

"He is the god who governs things that cannot be seen by humans", such as fate, explained local guide Minori Maeda, "You could say he is the god of matchmaking. He brings people together; he has tremendous power."

That's why Izumo Taisha has become popularly known as one of Japan's "power spots", a term that emerged in the 1990s to describe places, usually surrounded by nature, that are said to possess special powers to generate good luck, better health or, in this case, love. While the philosophy of power spots is a fuzzy grab bag of Shintoism, new age spirituality, feng shui and marketing, its popularity over the last few decades has increased tourism to places like Izumo. More than seven million people visited the shrine in 2023, according to Izumo City, including around 350 couples who got married there.

Certainly not everyone who visits Izumo does so in pursuit of love, but the number of matchmaking-related activities here suggest a fair number do. With this in mind, tourism boards have compiled sightseeing itineraries focused on romantic spots in Izumo and the wider San'in region, from Yaegaki Shrine where a pond forecasts the outcome of relationships, to a pleasure boat whose bronze "matchmaking bell" summons the gods and even a train station painted pink and adorned with hearts. Less widely promoted is Izumo's

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