O-torii mio

You know you are going to a special place when you need five different trains and a ferry to get there... Miyajima ("the shrine island" in Japanese) might be kitsch, crowded and pretentious, but it is one of the most scenic spots in Japan so no wonder everyone wants to see it. A little island just outside of Hiroshima, it has been considered holy land for a long time thanks to our old friend Kobo Daishi who chose it as a sacred place for the Shingon Buddhists.

For centuries women were not allowed on the island but thankfully this is no longer true, so here we both were, getting off the ferry and running straight to Miyajima's most famous site, the floating torii, or O-torii. It served as an entrance to Itsukushima shrine - since the island was sacred, common people were not allowed to set foot on it, so they approached it by boat and disembarked at the shrine that was built on pillars and during high tide it looks like it is floating.

With low tide and the painters

With high tide

Just before the sunset we climbed up to the Daisho-in temple that was deserted at this time of the day, as most of the tourists come to Miyajima only for a day trip. The colors up here were spectacular!

No photoshop, I swear

This temple seemed a perfect a place for our Ema - a wooden plaque that Shinto worshippers put at the shrines with either a wish or a prayer. And we didn't want to leave Japan without our wish!

It is right there!

For dinner we were recommended a small place near our hotel, and it was spot on! I didn't think I wanted to eat okonomiyaki again, but when we tried the local version, the Hiroshima-yaki with noodles, we were in heaven. We even ordered another one to share and did not ask for more only because the place was closing.

Yummy!

The day would not be complete without the sight of the torii illuminated at night, I only wish my camera had manual white balance control to make the gate less yellow-looking, but oh well. And the boats of tourists coming over from Hiroshima and passing through the gate almost spoiled the moment, but in the end we couldn't mind as it was too beautiful. 

You would think that seeing the torii once or twice might be enough, but you couldn't be more wrong. It draws you to itself and you have to come back again and again... So we got up early again today to catch some snapshots of it with the sunrise, and then we finally went to the Itsukushima shrine that has nothing special to it besides the pillars it stands on it...and the damn torii right in front of it. At 7am there was nobody around, just monks praying and cleaning. Later on during day it was jammed with people, so we are glad we convinced ourselves to wake up and do our pyjamas under pants routine.

No comment needed

After breakfast we headed up to the top of the island's highest mountain/hill, Mount Misen, a sacred ground with several shrines on it. We were told that we'd find many spots with autumn leaves and good views, but we found none. The hike was a pretty pointless waste of energy, so we chose the shortest way down to get to the village again, and we comforted ourselves with the delicious local cakes in the shapes of maple leaves - momiji manju. After eating ten of them we almost forgot about the disappointing climb up. We also tried grilled oysters, a local specialty, we would have eaten ten as well, were they not so expensive!

Disgusting-looking, yet delicious

The day was looking better again. And guess who showed up to improve it even more!

We meet again!

It looks like we will never get rid of them! We went to "our" Daisho-in temple together, but this time the place was a mess, people everywhere, monks chanting the sutras and above all, fire! We happened to come to Hiwatari-shiki, a buddhist rite of fire walking during which the monks and pretty much anyone who is brave enough, walk on hot coals and chant a prayer for a good health and fortune. Spectacular!

Hot, hot, hot!

It was a second day in a row that we were going way over our budget as Miyajima is very expensive, but to stay overnight and see the island deserted in the evening and early morning was really priceless. On the ferry ride back to the mainland we thought how strange to imagine that right next to this peacefulness the atomic bomb was dropped.

Rainbow over Hiroshima

We could not visit Hiroshima and its Memorial Park and A-Bomb museum so we will just have to add it on our to-do list for our next visit to Japan, we hope there will be one or more!

Tonight we are back in Kyoto and it is raining again. Lets see if the weather is merciful to us on our last day here in Japan!