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This article was produced by\u00a0National Geographic Traveller<\/i>\u00a0<\/i>(UK).<\/p>\n
The chef\u2019s hands move with the assurance of decades-long practice. He shapes and turns rice still faintly warm, then settles a soft nugget of fish liver on top. I pop it into my mouth and it melts instantly, nutty and rich with a subtle hint of sweetness. But my gaze drifts past him. The scenery is moving \u2014 because this sushi counter isn\u2019t tucked into a Tokyo backstreet. It\u2019s on a boat.<\/p>\n
Islands rise and fall with the waves as gunt\u00fb charts her course on this slow, three-day journey through Japan\u2019s Seto Inland Sea. There are more than 3,000 islands here, scattered like marbles across a slate-blue carpet with some no larger than a tennis court, home only to a scattering of pines and the occasional lost-looking seabird.<\/p>\n
From a distance, the boat\u2019s gabled roofline resembles a house set adrift \u2014 the source of its nickname, the floating ryokan. Dating back to the samurai era, traditional ryokans were designed to anticipate a traveller\u2019s every need, bringing bathing, dining and rest together under one roof. On gunt\u00fb, that philosophy has simply been carried out to sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe view is like watching a picture scroll,\u201d says Yasushi Horibe, the architect behind the ship\u2019s design. \u201cWe want guests to feel harmony between the landscape and the vessel itself.\u201d Inside, pale woods and muted tones create an atmosphere of almost monastic calm. At sunrise and sunset, light pours in through wide windows, bathing corridors and cabins in an amber glow. It feels like walking through a jar of honey.<\/p>\n\n\nGunt\u00fb was designed by architect Yasushi Horibe, known for Japanese homes that blur the boundary between interior and exterior. Photograph by gunt\u00fb<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis serenity is reinforced by the setting itself. Often called the Mediterranean of Japan, the region is shaped by hot, humid summers, gentle autumns and late winters. While spring and autumn are the most popular times to travel, each season has its own charms. I\u2019m here in November, when the islands\u2019 cascading green hills are transformed into a painterly sweep of colour. Bright golds, rusty oranges and the occasional flash of fiery red turn the landscape into something straight out of a Bob Ross masterclass \u2014 warming rather than overwhelming.<\/p>\n
Yet this calm masks a more volatile side. On my second morning, after a pale winter sunrise, we\u2019re ushered onto a small motorboat for an off-ship excursion. The crew\u2019s careful precautions \u2014 life vests handed out and straps checked \u2014 feel excessive at first. Minutes later, I\u2019m grateful for every buckle. Whirlpools open and close around us \u2014 some no larger than a draining bathtub, others wide enough to swallow a person whole. Sunlight skitters across the foaming spirals, drawing excited, slightly nervous murmurs from the group.<\/p>\n\n\nThe powerful tidal currents make the waters around the islands extremely difficult to navigate. Photograph by Ella Rogers<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThese waters have always been treacherous, their currents unpredictable, and sailors once landed on Omishima island to pray to the mountain gods for a safe passage. Among them were the Murakami pirates, a powerful clan who dominated these channels for centuries. \u201cThe Murakami were so ubiquitous in this region that you could walk into a classroom and half the students might share the surname Murakami,\u201d says our guide, Sakochi Moto, a woman in her sixties from nearby Fukuyama.<\/p>\n
But these weren\u2019t pirates in the Hollywood sense, nor the heroes of Japanese comics. \u201cThey were kaizoku,\u201d Moto says. \u201cMore like maritime samurai, established powers who controlled these waters. Many later answered the emperor\u2019s call and became part of the imperial naval forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
We finally make it to Omishima, landing beside a white torii gate that rises seven metres from the water\u2019s edge, marking the passage from sea to sanctuary. Beyond it, a short path slips through the sleepy town of Miyaura. The streets are silent, scented with a gentle sweetness drifting from the Murakami Yokando bakery where mamju (warm treats filled with bean curd) are being prepared.<\/p>\n
Stone lanterns lead us to a camphor grove that shelters \u014cyamazumi Shrine, a historic Shinto complex hidden deep in the forest. The courtyard lies in shade, anchored by a vast camphor tree at its centre. Around 2,600 years old, its limbs are wrapped in braided ropes, with shide papers hanging in careful folds, quietly declaring the site\u2019s sacred status. Beneath it, two priests in white robes and turquoise hakama (trousers) move with unhurried precision, sweeping leaves from the stone steps that rise towards the shrine.<\/p>\n\n\nStone lanterns lead the way from Miyaura Port to Oyamazumi Shrine. Photograph by Ella Rogers<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\u014cyamazumi Shrine is more than 1,000 years old and houses Japan\u2019s largest collection of samurai swords. Photograph by Ella Rogers<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nStanding at its centre, calm settles over me, a palpable counterpoint to the treacherous whirlpools and unpredictable currents offshore. The shrine is famed across Japan for its collection of ancient samurai offerings, from armour to weapons, and it\u2019s easy to picture the Murakami pirates here centuries ago, offering prayers for a safe passage across the waters we\u2019ve just crossed.<\/p>\n
But the stillness is fleeting. Soon, we\u2019re back on the boat, engines straining as we edge once more into open water. Our captain expertly adjusts the throttle to hold position beside a slowly forming whirlpool, clearly knowing every contour of the seabed by heart. Still, the thrill lingers. It\u2019s difficult to fathom how 16th-century sailors, navigating wooden vessels, dared to cross these channels at all, with tidal differences reaching up to four metres in a single day.<\/p>\n
We circle the most volatile points, where opposing streams visibly collide, before approaching Naoshima Island, which served as a Murakami stronghold for more than two centuries. Rising in layered tiers above the bay, it once functioned as a pirate fortress \u2014 not of stone walls, but towering tents, with the clan leader\u2019s residence at the highest level. From this vantage point, with natural defences above and treacherous tides below, I understand how the kaizoku maintained control \u2014 not merely as raiders, but as guardians of the region\u2019s sea routes.<\/p>\n
Back aboard gunt\u00fb, the energy shift is immediate. The sea is calm again; hills drift past as they did at sunrise and I settle onto a lounger on the forward terrace, a glass of junmai sake in hand. Inside, the sushi chef continues his choreography, slicing sashimi with the same precision I watched that first afternoon, the steady rhythm of the blade echoing the lapping of the waves outside.<\/p>\n\n\nThe onsen-style baths on gunt\u00fb are designed as viewing spaces as much as places to bathe. Photograph by gunt\u00fb<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWherever I am onboard, I remain a spectator of the sea: at the sushi counter, in the library, in the onsen-style baths where green citrus fruits bob beside me in the steam. Each of the ship\u2019s 17 cabins has floor-to-ceiling windows framing the panorama beyond. On the top deck, an open-air engawa terrace (a traditional Japanese verandah) is strewn with mats and low stools for watching the islands slide past in a slow procession of green silhouettes.<\/p>\n
Unlike vast ocean cruises that draw guests inward with constant activity, gunt\u00fb does the opposite. It gently pushes you outward \u2014 to watch, to listen, to connect with the seascape. As dusk settles and the sea darkens, I find myself wondering if the Murakami kaizoku once paused to take in this view, letting the water still before venturing back into the currents. Different vessels, different centuries \u2014 yet the same sea, carrying all of us quietly onward.<\/p>\n
Published in the Islands Collection 2026<\/i> by\u00a0National Geographic Traveller<\/i>\u00a0(UK).<\/p>\n
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