Ghost of Tsushima — The Real Island Behind the Game

The game opens on Komoda Beach, where Lord Shimura leads the island's samurai against the landing Mongol army and loses almost everyone; Jin is left for dead. The real invasion began here too. The island's deputy governor, Sō Sukekuni, met the fleet with about 80 horsemen and was killed with most of his men. A shrine to him stands behind the beach, with a bronze statue of Sukekuni on horseback put up for the 750th anniversary in 2020. Every November its festival ends with a procession of armoured warriors who aim their bows out to sea.

Visitor guidance: Komodahama Shrine is on the south-west coast, about 30 minutes' drive from Izuhara; the grave mounds of Sukekuni are nearby.

In the game Castle Kaneda is the Khan's first stronghold: Jin attacks it alone to rescue his uncle, is thrown off its bridge, and later scales its walls with a grappling hook. The real Kaneda is much older and has no keep. It is a Korean-style mountain fortress built in 667 on a peak above Asō Bay, after Japan's defeat by Silla and Tang China in 663, when the island became the front line. On the eve of the Russo-Japanese War the army added gun batteries on the same mountain. Both layers are now a Special Historic Site.

Visitor guidance: A hiking path climbs past the ancient stone walls to the summit, with wide views over the inlets of Asō Bay.

The game is full of mountain shrines that Jin reaches by climbing past rows of torii gates, and of summits where he stops to compose haiku. Mount Shiratake, a rocky peak in the middle of the southern island, is the real Tsushima's holy mountain and has been revered since ancient times. Its forest, where plants from the Asian mainland grow beside Japanese ones, is a protected natural monument. Tsushima's official guide for players names Shiratake as a real place that also appears in the game.

Visitor guidance: The trail is steep near the top; the rocky summit looks out over Asō Bay.

The game's first act takes place in a southern province it calls Izuhara, after the island's real main town. Its lords, the Shimura and the Sakai, are invented. Tsushima's real rulers were the Sō, the clan of Sukekuni, who governed it until 1868 and grew rich on trade with Korea. Their family temple, Banshōin, was founded in Izuhara in 1615. Above the main hall, 132 stone steps lined with lanterns, the Hyakugangi, climb to the tombs of the Sō lords among cedars said to be 1,200 years old.

Location precision: The game's Izuhara is a fictional province; the pin marks Banshōin temple in the real town.

Visitor guidance: Banshōin is a 15-minute walk from Izuhara port; the restored gate of Kaneishi Castle, the Sō residence, is next door.

Torii gates standing in the sea are one of the game's signature images, and Tsushima has a famous real pair. Watatsumi Shrine, on a quiet inlet of Asō Bay, honours the sea god's daughter Toyotama-hime and her husband, who by legend stayed here three years. Two of its five torii stand in the water, so at high tide the shrine seems to float, like the dragon palace of the myth. Since March 2025, after repeated misbehaviour by sightseers, the shrine admits only worshippers and bans all photography.

The game's expansion sends Jin across the strait to Iki, where his father died fighting raiders and where a new Mongol warband, led by the shaman known as the Eagle, has taken his father's old fort. Iki was the invasion's second victim in 1274. Its deputy governor, Taira no Kagetaka, met the landing with about a hundred horsemen, was driven back to his castle at Hizume, and took his own life there the next day; many islanders were killed. Shinjō Shrine now stands on the castle site.

Location precision: The game's Fort Sakai is invented; the pin marks Shinjō Shrine on the site of Kagetaka's castle.

Visitor guidance: Ferries link Iki with Tsushima and Fukuoka; the Shinjō battlefield memorial is a short walk from the shrine.