Only men can visit this Sacred Japanese Island, naked ones at that!

For hundreds of years, not a single woman has set foot on Okinoshima Island. A tiny speck of land off the coast of Fukuoaka in Japan, Okinoshima is one of the country’s most sacred islands and is referred to as ‘an island where gods reside’. In fact, the island is inhabited by only one man, who is employed as the guardian of the 17^th century temples. Adhering to the Shinto religious traditions, the island is strictly off-limits to women.

Ironically, the sacred Munakata Taisha Okitsumiya shrine here honors a woman, the goddess of the sea. For many centuries, sailors conducted elaborate religious rites at this shrine to ask for goddess’ blessing and protect their ships. Why women were banned from this island remains a mystery. While the popular fable claims that women were turned to stone if they ventured close to the island, historians believe that menstruating women were considered ‘impure’ as Shinto tradition considers blood as an impurity. Some theorists believe that it was too dangerous for childbearing women to travel from the mainland, necessitating the ban.

Visiting the island is not so easy for men either. Customarily, only the temple priests are allowed to set foot on the island. The only time ordinary men, that too just about 200 of them, can visit is during the temple’s annual festival. Even then, men who are granted access must first strip naked, and get ‘purified’ in a formal ceremony. They are also forbidden to take any items home from the island or talk about the island and their trip when they return.

Home to a treasure trove of 80,000 ancient artifacts originally from the Korean Peninsula, this year the Japanese government put forward this historic island for the UNESCO World Heritage listings. This recent move by the Japanese government has riled up more than a few people. Many see this nomination as support of unfair sexist practice. Whether the island gets selected as a UNESCO Heritage site or not, the priests refuse to change their stance on the ban on women visiting the temple and opening up the island to tourists. What the future holds, we do not know, but for now curious travelers can explore nearby towns and tour around the island by sea and certainly this has to be one of the most interesting facts about Japan.