Miyajima

One of the most scenic views in Japan

The floating arch O-torii is one of the most famous symbols of Japan. This particular gate was built in 1875, but it's the seventeenth gate that's been built. The gate is supposed to indicate that the island is a shinto holy place.

Japanese tourist destinations seem to have recurring themes - saying "I visted that place with the tame dear and the gondola to the top of the mountain" doesn't actualy describes several places in Japan. The deer are cool (and better behaved than what I remember of the Deer in Nara), but we weren't swarmed with school kids so perhaps the deer weren't in feeding frenzy mode.

We took the gondola to the top of the mountain (David walked up) and took in the view. It was unfortunatly an overcast/hazy day so the view wasn't particularly great. The resident monkey population was "Feeding in the Forest" - I hope it means that the monkeys are less human dependent, even if it means I didn't get to see them.

From the top of the mountain we could see the surround islands and with better weather, this would be an amazing view. We walked up to the mountain top (the path was paved the entire length!) and then walked down the mountain. Thankfully the Gondola fee is split so we had a reason to destroy our knees.

Daisho-in

Daisho-in is the largest temple on Miyajima island and belongs to the Shingon sect of Buddhism. Near the bottom of our hike we entered the complex and continued through the complex until we got to the village proper.

My favorite part of the complex was the "universally illuminating cave" - a room with hundreds on lanterns and small Buddahs covered with messages from well wishers.

We continued to the village. Miyajima has a few other features beyond the temples and views - they are the birth place of the rice paddle, they have the worlds largest rice paddle, and they have great sweats!

The traditional sweats are a spongy cake with a chocolate or banana filling. They are generally shaped in maple leaves or other traditional forms, but we did find boxes of hello kitty cakes.

By about 3pm we were done with Miyajima - the tide was out so the torii was on mud and the tourist numbers were high. We took the ferry back to the mainland and split up - David and Sean went back to the hotel in Hiroshima and Andrea, Mark and I took the train the other way.

Kintai-kyo Bridge

Kintai-kyo bridge is in the small town Iwakuni, about a 20 minute train ride south of the Miyajima ferry terminal. The light was fading fast when we arrived in Iwakuni so we took a taxi. After walking across the bridge and back we took a bus to the Iwakuni shinkansen station and used the power of the JR rail pass - just hop on the next train going our way. The Shinkansen reversed in 20 minutes what was nearly an hour of local train rides.