Miyajima

---

Although I'm now back from Japan, I'd still like to share some of the other experiences that I was not able to share while I was there.

One of those experiences was our visit to the island of Miyajima. It's a small island off the coast of Hiroshima that is known in Japan as one of the three most scenic spots in the country. So, of course, we had to see it.

After a 45-minute ferry ride, we arrived at the island. We had heard about the tame deer that roam the island and saw a few as soon as we began walking away from the ferry lounging in the shade beneath some trees. I'll share a story or two about them later in this entry.

Along with the deer, we were also looking forward to seeing Itsukushima Shrine. After walking through the small village with it's restaurants and shops we arrived near the entrance of the shrine, a huge red torii (shrine gate) that sits in the water. This gives the illusion that it's floating on the water. It's a beautiful site. At certain times of the year the tide is out enough that people are able to walk out to the torii. After snapping a few photos we made our way into Itsukushima Shrine itself. When the tide is in far enough, this also seems to be floating on water. Unfortunately, the tide was out enough that what we saw it sitting on was nothing more than mud with tiny crabs running in and out of little holes. Walking through the shrine itself was an experience. It contains a winding covered dock that, when walking through it, really brings about a calm feeling. It made me understand why this was such a sacred place.

While visiting many shrines and temples in my travels through Japan I learned that "shrine" or "temple" do not mean just one building. Many of them contain multiple buildings and smaller shrines or temples within them. This was evident when we visited Daisho-in Temple, also on the island of Miyajima. It had a main entrance with it's guardians (wooden statues that look scary and threatening), a common site at Buddhist temples, and a long staircase that led to the main temple itself. The temple grounds also contained separate paths, one that was lined with 500 small stone buddhist icons. We were also able to enter some smaller temples and pay our respects by either lighting a candle or lighting some incense. There was also Henshokutsu Cave with tiny Buddhist icons lining both sides of the U-shaped path of the cave. This was one of the more interesting and beautiful temples that I had the opportunity to visit in Japan.

After leaving the temple, we made our way back towards Itsukushima Shrine and back into the little village to grab some lunch and browse through some of the many shops that line the street. For me, lunch included grilled eel over rice. It was my first experience eating eel and it was an enjoyable one. It's basically the same as eating fish.

Okay, now back to the deer. When making our way back to the dock to catch the ferry back to Hiroshima we encountered some more of Miyajima's resident deer. There are signs that tell people not to feed or touch the deer. Shockingly enough, they still do. I picked up a grilled oyster snack from a street vendor along the way (also delicious) and found that I had a few deer that were curious about what I was eating and had to shoo them away. When we arrived near the dock, we still had some time before the ferry arrived so we took a seat along a small rock wall under the shade. As we sat there we noticed 4 or 5 deer following these two older women. One of these women had a small, wheeled suitcase that she was pulling behind her. As she attempted to shoo the deer away they proceeded to grab some paper maps and/or brochures that she had hanging out of a pocket of the suitcase. Maureen and I sat there in disbelief as the deer consumed every bit of paper like they were large leaves of lettuce. It was an interesting conclusion to visiting one of the three most scenic spots in Japan.

---

Photos

Lighting incense at the temple
Please excuse the shirt. It was an extremely hot day and I was carrying the backpack.