5/21/24: Magical Miyajima Island nr. Hiroshima

 

After visiting the sobering sights in Hiroshima the day before, a day trip to the nearby scenic island of Miyajima in the Seto Inland Seto was a delightful change and exactly what Steven and I needed on our last day in Japan. Almost from our hotel doorstep, we hopped on the streetcar for the hour-long ride through the city to the last stop and then a three-minute walk to the short ferry ride bound for Miyajima. You may have seen photos of the island's most famous landmark, a huge, vermilion-colored torii or shrine gate emerging from the water. 

While the island is more commonly referred to as Miyajima, it's officially named Itsukushima, Japanese for "shrine island" because the island is so closely related to its key shrine, Itsukushima Shrine. If you look closely, you'll notice why the island has been called the Goddess of the Mountain from its profile with the trees at the top of the mountain resembling eyelashes. 

I overheard a guide on the ferry say that because the island had been considered sacred, no one could touch it at one time. Neither giving birth nor dying was allowed on Miyajima so both pregnant women and the ill were quickly ferried across to the mainland. Local superstition allowed for neither a hospital nor a cemetery. Unlike most places in Japan, the trees were never cut down. 

Now one thousand people live on the island and it's visited by five million tourists annually. As had become the norm in Venice and Amsterdam, a tourist tax was likewise imposed on all visitors to Miyajima last year to preserve the old houses. Building rules were very strict on the island so that views of the torii wouldn't be obstructed and the traditional style of homes was mandated. 

The Japanese people have ranked Miyajima as having one of the three best scenic views in the country. The other two are Matsushima in Tohuku and Amanohashidate, a remote sand spit on the coast of the Japan Sea. The view of Miyajima's giant torii gate seemingly floating on the water just offshore at high tide was what merited its high ranking. Though high tide had been at 8 that morning, the guide said it would still be high enough for us to view the submerged torii gate when we arrived close to 11.

One of the largest torii in Japan, the gate marked the border between the sacred and the secular. It was built in 1875 of camphor wood which was naturally resistant to rot and insects. The vermilion lacquer also protected the wood from further damage. The gate measured more than 16 meters tall. The current six-pillar style dates to 1547 and weighed 60 tons including 4 tons of stones placed in the upper lintel. I was surprised that the structure was held upright only by its own weight and not embedded in the seabed. The bright red gate has only been replaced seven times over the centuries with the most recent time just last year. It replaced the gate from 1875 - we were lucky we hadn't missed the glorious sight.  

As we'd seen in Nara, wild deer were prevalent on the island and had also become accustomed to people. It was cute seeing them wander around the same sites as the tourists. But, unlike in Nara, the deer on Miyajima couldn't be fed.

A walk along the seawall was the more peaceful option to view the torii up close compared to making our way through a street full of souvenir stores.  

A short walk from the pier was the island's major attraction, the wooden Itsukushima Shrine which was founded in 593 to honor three female deities. As it was built over water, it looked as though the shrine was floating on water when the tide was in. Though most of the shrine's buildings date from the 16th century, they have been repaired repeatedly since.

The Marodo Shrine was for guest deities.

In the distance was the closed, 27-meter-tall Five-Storied Pagoda.

Takabutai was an elevated stage where ancient court dances called bugaku were performed.

The tide had receded so much that all we saw was mud under the steeply arched pedestrian Soribashi or Moon Bridge. 

We didn't know what building this was but it certainly attracted lots of attention from the shrine's visitors. 

Candles were marked for safety and well-being, good luck and to ward off level, for the souls of ancestors, for the souls of unborn babies, etc. It was the first time we'd seen candles marked for special wishes at any temples, before. 

The Itsukushima Shrine Treasure Hall, built in 1934, displayed artwork, handicrafts, swords, costumes, masks, and other valuable items acquired by the shrine. Most had been donated by prominent or influential donors to display their faith or express their thanks to a deity. The shrine was popular from the 9th to 12th centuries when the list of donors included emperors, high-ranking aristocrats, and powerful warlords. Some of the gifts have been designated as National Treasures. 

The omigoromo was a costume worn until the latter half of the 19th century by priests when dedicating bugaku dances to the shrine.

The Edo Period painting depicted 12th-century Tokiwa Gozen, the mother of a great samurai hero. It was presented to the shrine as an ema devotional offering even though ema normally referred to the wooden votive tablets on which wishes and prayers were written and offered at Shinto shrines. Traditionally, however, ema were images of horses that Shinto deities were thought to ride. In ancient Japan, living horses were often presented to shrines and were associated with prayers related to rain. While wealthy devotees often presented large and elaborate works of art such as ema, less affluent people donated much smaller, simpler images which later developed into the wooden ema tablets we'd seen at shrines throughout Japan.

It was rare that a complete set of weights for scales from the Edo period were preserved. 

Another sight on the island was the Daisho-in Temple, one of the most famous temples in western Japan belonging to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Located at the base of Mount Misen, it was where the sect's founder, Kobo Daishi, first began the practice of Buddhism on Miyajima.

Two fierce-looking deities stood guard at the shrine's entrance.

While walking up the long row of the temple's steps was a row of spinning metal wheels inscribed with sutras or Buddhist scriptures. Turning the inscriptions is believed to have the same effect as reading them. 

Halfway up the stairs were oodles of red-capped tiny Buddhist statues.

A little further on was a small temple with the 10th-Century Seated Fudo Myo'o.

Nade-Botoke was nicknamed the Touch and Care Buddha because if you had a pain in your body, you just needed to touch the same part of the statue to be cured soon. Would that life worked so easily!

It was unusual seeing evidence of Tibetan Buddhism in Japan.

In the Main Hall was a lovely sand mandala made by visiting monks from Tibet. 

A small sign indicated this was an Omikuji, a fortune telling sacred idol. 

Statues lined the entrance to another of the temple's buildings ...

and inside were countless more.

An inori crane sculpture: 

From the highest temple building we had a panoramic view of the Seto Inland Sea and Hiroshima.

A secondat stairway leading down had hundreds and hundreds of stone statues of monks lined up on both sides. They were called Rakan.

I didn't examine the statues closely but each appeared to be unique. 

As a huge knitter, I wonder who had knitted all the jaunty red caps and when and how often they had to be replaced as they were constantly exposed to the elements. 

Every now and then, a machine pumped out fog which created a mysterious atmosphere. 

We encountered some unusual flowers on our way back to the village of Itsukushima.

We enjoyed a late lunch with BBQ chicken on skewers.

A better view of the Five-Storied Pagoda we'd viewed earlier in the distance: 

The water by the torii had receded so much in the intervening two-and-a-half hours that it would have been easy for us to walk right out and touch the shrine gate.

Running the gamut of souvenir shops back to the port:

We'd planned to take the boat back to central Hiroshima but unfortunately the tide was too low so we retraced oursteps from the morning, taking the ferry back to the mainland and the tram back from there to central Hiroshima. 

Bidding adieu to magical Miyajima and its sacred torii:

We spotted a white building across from Miyajima and found out on Google that it was the Mori Art Museum, a wood art museum owned by a religious cult. The building has three golden Buddhas on the roof and a large white rabbit in front of a tree.

Next post: A recap - impressions after three weeks traveling through much of Japan.

Posted on August 4th, 2024 from San Francisco where we came to meet our almost three-week-old grandson and spend time with his siblings and parents. It's tough having a child in every time zone in the US but at least we're lucky enough to be able to visit our five grandchildren in Chicago and here in San Francisco a few times a year. Wishing you and your loved ones peace and good health.