Izumo

Izumo (イズモ村 Izumo Village) is a village on the island nation of Nihan. It is one of several locations in that become available once Felix's party sets sail on Piers' boat, and so it does not have to be visited at a predetermined point in the game. The city of Izumo is located by the island's coastline. Izumo is similar to ancient Japan in architecture and customs. Its houses consist of wooden huts with thatched roofs. Izumo is governed by Lady Uzume.

In

 * For all NPC gossip, see Side Scripts.

There are two major things to do after clearing Gaia Rock. The first is to give the Dancing Idol to Lady Uzume; in exchange, she will give Felix Coal, a Mars Djinni. The second is the Izumo Ruins. In order to enter the catacombs, Felix must use Move on the leftmost pillar in the ring of pillars to the right of Lady Uzume's house (later in the game Isaac and Garet can accomplish this instead), and then Sheba (or Ivan) must use Reveal to unveil the ladder in the center of the ring. Although the catacombs are available upon first arriving in Izumo, they are unavailable for exploration until Felix gains the Sand Psynergy in Gaia Rock. The Phantasmal Mail can be found here, as well as the Summon Ulysses. However, the room containing Ulysses remains unreachable until Piers learns Parch in Aqua Rock

Vendors
The town's inn is located just north of the entrance and costs 15 coins per party member.

Items
Festival Coat: Found in the big crate in the lower-right building. Antidote: Found by using Cyclone on the weeds in the lower right corner of the city. Elixir: Found in the rightmost jar outside Lady Uzume's house. Smoke Bomb: Found in a jar in the center right building. Lucky Medal: Found by using Cyclone on the weeds south of Lady Uzume's house. Water of Life: Found in a jar north of Lady Uzume's house.

Pre-Gaia Rock
Sometime before the party arrives at Izumo, the Serpent residing in Gaia Rock awakened (possibly a result of the Psynergy Stones scattered during Mt. Aleph's eruption, as are many of the obstacles encountered throughout the games). At the time, the people of Izumo were having a festival, which the Serpent promptly ruined. At some point Lady Uzume ordered barrels of Dragonsbane (which has an effect on the Serpent similar to catnip on cats) to be transported to the Serpent's lair deep within Gaia Rock. Supposedly, the Serpent demanded a female sacrifice each year, and so a lottery was formed to determine who the sacrifice would be. Kushinada, a close friend of Lady Uzume and her brother Susa, was chosen as the first sacrifice. Enraged, Susa travelled to Gaia Rock on his own in an attempt to destroy the Serpent before Kushinada could be sacrificed. Lady Uzume predicted that a great hero would come to slay the Serpent by the next full moon.

Post-Gaia Rock
After the Serpent is destroyed, the townspeople are in much better spirits, and are even preparing another festival. A cutscene can be triggered by entering Lady Uzume's house, during which Kraden attempts to explain Psynergy to Uzume and Kushinada, and it is revealed that both they and Susa possess some level of Psynergy (most likely of the Venus element, which is later confirmed after defeating Gaia Rock). Also, Susa tries to deny having defeated the Serpent, but Felix and Co. point out that Susa greatly weakened the Serpent with the Dragonsbane (Sake in the Japanese version) and delivered the final blow with the Cloud Brand, making him an essential part of the Serpent's defeat.

In Dark Dawn
Some time after the Golden Sun event, Izumo is destroyed by a tidal wave, with Yamata taking its place as the primary settlement.

This village once rested upon Nihan, but it was destroyed by massive tsunamis that flooded it. It was once terrorized by a monstrous dragon called the Great Serpent until the Warriors of Vale slew the beast.

Trivia

 * After Gaia Rock, the mind read dialogue for the old man by the western drum in Lady Uzume's house has a typo: "sometimesi" instead of "sometimes".
 * One of the young woman NPCs is a dancer called Okuni, named after the inventor of Kabuki Theater who was a Miko at the Izumo Shrine.