Nihongo Notes

During my first trip to Japan I had the pleasure of staying in Hiroshima for a few days. I learnt a lot about its past and had some great nights out. On one of the days I took a trip over to Miyajima Island and visited Itsukushima Shrine with its famous floating torii. Wikipedia has more information on the island and its history:

The dramatic gate (torii) of Itsukushima Shrine is one of Japan’s most popular tourist attractions, and the view of the gate in front of the island’s Mount Misen is classified as one of the Three Views of Japan (along with the sand bar Amanohashidate, and Matsushima Bay). The gate has existed since 1168, though the current gate dates back to 1875. The gate, built of camphor wood, is about 16 metres high and was built in a four-legged style to provide additional stability.

The gate only appears to be floating at high tide; when the tide is low, the gate is surrounded by mud and can be accessed by foot from the island. It is common practice for visitors to place coins in the cracks of the legs of the gate and make a wish. Gathering shellfish near the gate is also popular at low tide. At night, powerful lights on the shore illuminate the gate.

Retaining the purity of the shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births were permitted at the shrine. To this day, burials on the island are still forbidden.

The local population were very welcoming, as long as you had some food, or really just about anything that could be chewed and swallowed.

It was a hot day and neither I nor the deer had the energy to pose for any interesting photos, but I did manage to take a few shots from the shade.

I liked this sign, with the cute cartoon of a deer talking to a girl. I think he’s asking “Hey, are those my raisins!?”. The deer love raisins, but they have no pockets so they keep dropping them all over the island!

As we walked towards the shrine we were surrounded by deer. Some sleeping, some fighting over the latest edition of the tourist map and the more curious deer inspecting people for food.

This deer was looking for a light mid-morning snack. Maybe a ticket or a 1 page leaflet.

We also walked by a family posing for professional photos after a wedding.

We walked further up and came across a little cafe. We bought a few cold drinks and enjoyed the view. I was hoping to see some monkeys but apparently they stay much further up and we didn’t venture that far. I’m not sure if the monkeys get along with the deer. I’d like to think they live in peace together. I wondered if maybe the deer even gave the monkeys a ride on their backs down to the shops to join in the leaflet feast or maybe I’d spent too long in the sun…

We then walked up some steps and into a temple area with cute little stone statues hidden amongst the plants.

As we walked back down we came to a quiet area surrounded by trees. A small fawn was falling asleep under a tree, dreaming of eating lots of tourist maps. Mmmm glossy paper….

We got back down to the shops before everyone else and remembering the other day that someone mentioned sake ice-creams we went in search of them. We couldn’t find any for sale but our guide asked a store owner and he kindly made some for us after a few strange looks. I forgot to take a photo because by now I was more interested in filling my body with cold liquid to survive the heat. But just imagine shaved ice with blueberry sauce and sake. Our guide decided there wasn’t enough sake in his and bought a little extra bottle. I decided this was a great idea and shared some of it, but I put a bit too much sake in and it was a struggle to finish it. I sat all sake’d up on the boat back thinking what a nice place Miyajima is and daydreaming of monkeys racing on the backs of deer…

The island was full of amazing sights and I would love to visit again and explore it some more. As with the Sanja Matsuri festival I recommend you check it out.