The word "Matsushima" is translated as "Pine Islands". The so-called located in Miyagi Prefecture, the group of small Islands covered with pine trees. In total there are about 260 Islands. They are in the Gulf, also called Matsushima, which cut into the land of Honshu on 14 kilometers. Matsushima is recognized as one of the three most famous landscapes of Japan along with the sand bar Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture and the island of Miyajima in Hiroshima.

These Islands are so beautiful that, as they say, he was deprived of speech, even the famous Japanese poet, the master haiku poet Matsuo Basho, who is credited with the following poem: "Matsushima, Ah! Ah, Matsushima, Ah! Matsushima, Ah! "

In 2011, when many communities in Japan have suffered from a huge tsunami, a small village Matsushima, thanks to the "cover" of these Islands, was washed into the ocean. Among the Islands of Matsushima and have quite tiny, and there are such, which are small settlements. Their residents get to their homes by boat. And here offer tourists to take boat trips on the boat – in particular, on the island Minatojima and Kinkazan, which has long been considered sacred. In its centre is a volcano with a height of about 450 meters, and on its slopes are home to deer and monkeys.

General view of a group of Islands resembles the image of a classic Japanese garden with a pond. On Matsushima developed tourist route "the Four great" and there are four places for contemplation of the surrounding beauty under the names "sokan", "Rakan", "UCAN" and "Icahn". The beauty of nature at Matsushima supplemented with several fine buildings in the traditional style: temples, pavilions, tea houses. For example, the tea house Caranta was transported to the Matsushima as a gift to the ruler of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made by the local feudal Lord, founder of Sendai, date Masamune.