exploring kyushu
OCTOBER 2027
relle mott
*** Preliminary Itinerary ***
Explore Japan’s southernmost island, endowed with natural beauty, traditional arts and crafts, historic temples in verdant forests and a unique history of engagement with Asian and European cultures
OVERVIEW
For thousands of years, Kyushu, Japan’s southern island, was a main point of contact between Japan and mainland Asia, making it a centre for Japan’s early civilisations and cultures. This tour offers a comprehensive journey exploring the island, taking in its natural beauty, historic sites, and the ceramics villages for which the island is renowned.
The tour begins in Fukuoka, where we explore Kyushu’s spiritual and cultural heritage at Dazaifu Shrine, the Kyushu National Museum and the Fukuoka Art Museum. We then travel to Beppu, enjoying an arts and crafts walking tour with a focus on the local bamboo and to wander through the so-called ‘Seven Hells’, the region’s renowned hot springs.
Nearby Usuki features one of southern Japan’s most evocative and lesser-known sites, with rare stone buddhas carved directly from a rockface. Samurai residences and the Oita Prefectural Museum of Art, designed by internationally-renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, are complemented by the serene forest temples of the Kunisaki Peninsula. We admire the natural beauty of Mount Aso and Takachiho Gorge, before heading to Suizenji strolling garden and the galleries and house museums of the castle town of Kumamoto.
We cross to the isolated Amakusa Islands, where the Hidden Christian practised their faith in defiance of official edicts, before arriving in Nagasaki, the centre of foreign trade in the Edo Period and a sobering modern target of atomic warfare. The tour concludes with a return to Fukuoka, with visits to the pottery towns of Arita and Imari and to the fascinating Yayoi site at Yoshinogari.
TOUR LEADER
Relle Mott is an experienced tour leader and has had a long career with the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, leading garden tours to Japan. She is now actively involved with the Friends of the Gardens and the Volunteer Guides.
Relle’s connection with Japan was inspired by two years as an exchange student leading to a Fine Arts degree in Japanese arts, culture and language and a postgraduate year at the prestigious Keio University. As a practicing ceramicist, she brings her knowledge of the artform to her tours along with her deep understanding of Japanese culture.
“I would travel with Relle on any trip that takes my fancy!”
– Bruce Y, Japan’s Art Islands & the Setouchi Triennale, October 2025
Highlights
Explore Fukuoka’s Dazaifu Shrine, one of Japan’s most culturally significant, as well as the serene Shinto temples of the Kinosaki Peninsula
Come face to face with the mysterious stone buddhas carved into the rock at Usuki, a designated National Treasure
Ascend Mount Aso’s vast caldera and stare into the waters of the Hells of Beppu
Experience the natural beauty of Takachiho Gorge and the cultivated splendour of Suizenji Garden
Encounter the fascinating Hidden Christians, persecuted by the Tokugawa shogunate in World Heritage-listed Nagasaki and the Amakusa Islands
Admire a wide range of arts and crafts, with an in-depth look at Kyushu’s traditional pottery villages and visits to its diverse art museums
Uncover a lesser-known and intriguing side of Japanese history, from Yayoi settlements to Kumamoto’s imposing castle and the Samurai districts of the Oita Prefecture
Questions?
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