Miyajima is the popular name for Itsukushima island, which is just down the coast from Hiroshima - less than an hour away by train. It's the location of one of those famous Japanese landscapes that you see all the time online - in this case the torii gate rising out of the sea - the idea being that anyone wishing to approach the shrine on Itsukushima must pass through the gate by boat on the way. These days it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of Japan's most popular tourist spots - but it's both those things for good reason, and so I wasn't about to miss it while I was in the vicinity.
I knew the tide times were not ideal for seeing the torii gate in water, but hoped that by leaving it till the late afternoon it would not, at least, be completely dry. And also that the crowds would have thinned out somewhat by the time I got there.
It seemed like I guessed right, because there were more people disembarking from the ferry than queuing to get on it, by the time I arrived at the terminal around 3.30pm. I passed the time waiting to board by watching hordes of dragonflies darting around the water, though sadly they were all too fast for me to capture them on camera.
I stayed on the deck of the boat for the short ferry trip - on the water the oppressive heat of the day was reduced somewhat, and I didn't want to miss the views across the water to the shrine, the torii gate and Mount Misen rising up on the island in the background. It was all suitably spectacular, and as pleasant a way to pass fifteen minutes or so as I could think of on such a warm day.Once over the other side I headed first for Miyajima's main drag, Ometosando. It's a quaint old shopping street that makes up for the fact that it's almost completely tourist-oriented by remaining unmarred by modern buildings and by the sensible and traditional use of fabric coverings above the walkway to provide shelter from the sun.
Miyajima, like Nara, is also home to a lot of deer, and as at Nara, they are allowed to wander freely. Unlike Nara however, these deer are subject to a feeding ban from tourists, so while there are less of them, they are pretty cheeky about trying to shove their noses in your bags and pockets. They also like to harass shopkeepers and stallholders for handouts, even if they don't get any. It's as amusing to observe as it is at Nara, but with less chaos involved.
Luckily there weren't any deer roaming Ometosando when I stopped there to buy a couple of moniji manju - a local delicacy that is basically a small cake in the shape of a maple leaf that contains some kind of filling, either sweet or savoury. I went for the traditional adzuki jam, and can confirm that they are very tasty indeed. I toyed with trying one fried, but in the end I just settled for the regular baked versions.
I idled along the rest of the street, looking in a few shops and stopping to buy a cold drink from an ever-present vending machine. There's a giant rice paddle rather incongruously sited at the side of the road, and I gather it's supposed to be the largest one in the world. I suspect it doesn't have much competition.From the main street I headed directly to the shrine, since that was my main purpose for visiting. I had originally intended to walk through the forest at the foot of Mount Misen as well, but frankly the weather put me off that adventure - I am quite sure I would have dropped from heat exhaustion before I was halfway there. So straight to the shrine it was, though I did stop just before I got there so that I could try to get some shots of the famous torii gate that lies just offshore from the main temple buildings.
The tide was low, but there was enough water for it to look respectably as though it were floating. Unfortunately the sun was not cooperating and was both low and bright, which meant I had to play fast and loose with Instagram filters in order to compensate. Also unfortunately for me, I appeared to have chosen the hottest spot on Miyajima in terms of the exact location most people stop to take photographs of the gate. I'm not sure whether it's because I was alone or because I was female or both, but apparently despite being a foreigner, I look exactly like the kind of person who will take good photos of you and your wife/husband/child/dog standing RIGHT THERE in front of the gate. I must have, because for a while there was just one after the other person asking me (either in broken English or pantomime) to do so, or hovering about like they wanted to ask until I made the appropriate sign language to make the offer. Haha. It was actually quite sweet, and I hope I took decent photos for them all, even though it was difficult with the language barrier to give any directions (unfortunately necessary since the bloody sun was so low as to be a hindrance).
Between these photos, I watched a professional photographer trying to take pictures of a school group while a deer-whisperer used a few treats in a bid to get deer into shot. Between the deer not playing the game and the kids squeeing in alarm every time a deer got near them, I'd be amazed if any of those pictures were usable. Never work with children and animals dude, have you not heard that rule?My final photo of the day was of a German (I think) fella and his Japanese wife - she was taking a pic of him with their child on his shoulders and I offered to take one of them all together as my last hurrah before I moved from the Ideal Photography Spot lest it become a full time job. It wasn't until later that I realised it was probably the exact spot from which that ubiquitous childhood picture of Matsumoto Hideto with his family standing in front of the Miyajima torii gate was probably taken.
Anyway, from there it was only a few steps to the shrine itself, so I paid my fee and went to explore. There's not a lot to Itsukushima Shrine, but it really is pretty, and I took far too many photos, of which only a few passed muster when I sat down to check them out - again, the sun was a real problem at this time of day. if you ever go to Miyajima bear that in mind and maybe go at another time of day if you want the best chance of good photos.
I had some fun watching a couple of young women goofing off for photographs by posing like some of the fierce lion sculptures that dot the place, and before I left I made an offering at the Shrine, by way of a thank you for all the photographs.
After I exited the Shrine, I went looking for some alternative angles of the torii gate and finally found one that didn't cast it into silhouette. Sadly the same cannot be said of the nearby pagoda - I got a shot of it from the shore but close up it was impossible to photograph, which was a shame. Generally speaking Miyajima is a really lovely place, and improves exponentially as the crowds start to leave and the souvenir shops close up. I wish I had been able to afford to stay a night there, but unfortunately the accommodation is on the pricier side of "ouch".I spent a little more time exploring the streets and having a brief amusing exchange with an older Japanese guy ambling after his tour group who were being hassled by their guide to hurry up. I caught his eye while he was being chivvied and he pulled a face that indicated he wasn't going to hurry at all. I laughed, because he reminded me of the naughty kid hanging back on a school trip. It was pretty funny, since it didn't seem to be mean-spirited on his part, just a little knowingly mischievous. As I passed him I made shooing gestures and commented "HURRY HURRY!", to which he laughed in return and made the wry face again.
I also had a brief chat with an (I presume) American sailor/soldier/marine (no clue which) who were on a day trip with his Japanese wife and child - he was laughing at me for talking to one of the deer, to which I told him that it was always best to be polite when dealing with messengers from God, because you never know.
The return trip on the ferry was as pleasant as the outward one, though this time I sat down undercover and rested, since my feet were starting to get tired at this point. This put me right in the spot to have a minor game of peekaboo with a little girl who was apparently on a day trip with her Dad and baby brother/sister. She seemed a bit alarmed by the foreigner, but got over it after I caught her looking at me a few times whenever I looked away,
In fact this afternoon just turned out to be one of those days with a lot of human encounters, much like my day in Nara. Once back at the station, I ended up running for a train (and failing to catch it) with a lovely lady from India who was there on holiday. Since we were both alone (she had left the rest of her tour group on Miyajima since they were all half her age and wanted to climb Mount Misen) we rode the train back to Hiroshima and talked about Japan, the UK, how we were both fans of gardens, and how difficult she had been finding it to be a vegan in Japan. I told her about Buddhist cuisine and suggested she check it out when she got to Kyoto, since I had read that it could be ordered in vegan versions as well as vegetarian.By the time I got back to the hotel, it was late enough that I couldn't be bothered to go hunting for food, so made do with a salad and some kind of fairly bland fish/rice dish from the trusty Family Mart next to the hotel. The Daiwa Roynet had microwaves available for guest use in the vending machine rooms, one of which was on my floor, so eating from convenience stores was a snap if you wanted to (and cheap)!
After my daily call home and uploading of photographs I decided to call it a day. Between the heat and the fact that my feet were aching, all I could be bothered to do was have a long bath with more of the hotel's free bath salts and then crash into bed, to watch coverage of Wimbledon in Japanese before falling asleep with the television still on.
- More pictures of Miyajima are on my Flickr here
- Change of pace this afternoon, as I made the journey to Miyajima to the accompaniment of music that was less meaningful and more fun, including this one by Jamiroquai.
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