Miyajima, Japan - Part 2

Miyajima in the Hiroshima prefecture of Japan is a spiritual place with a handful of gorgeous shrines and temples that will impress even the hardest to please travellers. It also has a wonderful small street full of local specialties and beautiful snacks and a mountain with breathtaking views and a romantic manju making course. It's a fantastic side trip from Hiroshima or even Osaka or Kyoto as it is quite easy to get to from all these major cities. Visit my previous Japan trip post to find out about transport and the wonderful ryokan that we stayed in.

Itsukushima Shrine

Map courtesy of www.japan-guide.com

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Miyajima is considered as one of the top 3 views of Japan. The scenery that claims such high praise is the floating torii gate at Itsukushima Shrine. It is a Shinto shrine which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and many of the buildings are considered Japanese National Treasures. When we saw the shrine on the first day, it was already late afternoon and it was high tide. It meant we couldn't walk out to the famous gate to get a closer glimpse of its glory.

Luckily, our friendly ryokan lady owner informed us of the times of low tide every day so that we were able to walk out onto the ground that otherwise would have been submerged in the ocean. As you can see, seeing the torii gate is free and is what most people visit the island for.

As we walked closer, I saw a fascinating sight. Usually people throw money into ponds or other places with water as a means to attain good fortune. But there were coins stuck amongst the barnacles on the legs of the gate. Some were so disfigured that they must have been there for a very long time, submerged in seawater every day when the tide comes in and others were clearly very new. I saw young people attempting to stick their own coins on but I just couldn't find a space for mine. Ok I lied. I didn't really try to find space, instead of doing that, I preferred to photograph the memorable images of others doing so. It was a lot more valuable than just good fortunes. :)

There were locals crouched around the muddy shores, trying to find fresh edible sea creatures. They were everywhere and it was so interesting to watch. What I didn't like was the mud on my shoes, it was lucky though that I had worn boots, Yuye's shoes were soaked! It was stunning though how the shore disappears into the ocean that separates Hiroshima city and Miyajima. As you can see from the photo below, the buildings you can see across the ocean is in fact Hiroshima. It only takes mere minutes to get across to the island from the mainland via one of the ferries.