The Island of God

Itsukushima Shrine

Outside of Hiroshima are numerous day trips along the coastline of the Seto Inland Sea that separates three of Japans four main Islands.   The most famous of these is a visit to the mountainous island of Miyajima, home to one of the most photographed images in Japan.  The shrine to Itsukushima rises out of the sea to greet you from the boat that ferries people backwards and forwards over the short stretch of water from the mainland.  Quite why it is rated as one of the three best views in Japan was a mystery to us and far more entertaining were the tame deer that terrorise tourists by chasing them around in search of food.  Miyajima’s other claim to fame is that it has the world’s largest rice spoon (paddle), possibly one of the Guinness Book of Records least competitive fields. 

The view from Mount Misen

Much to Hannah’s distress I wanted to avoid paying the $10 fee to take the cable car to the top of Mount Misen and so we embarked on the 2 hour hike to the summit.  At only 535m tall Mount Misen is not the highest but it transpired that the walk up was almost vertical as the steep slopes plummet down into the sea.  Despite the incline and humidity it was very scenic walking through the ancient primary forest and despite the crowds around the shore we only saw a handful of other people, all of whom were walking down and giving us sympathetic looks.  The views from the top were well worth the trek though as we suddenly emerged onto a wide ridge near the summit that offered spectacular views across the sea to the other islands.  There were various Shinto shrines around the mountain that offered a welcome break from the hike but after five hours walking we were ready to catch the boat back across to our hostel near the ferry terminal. The staff in our hostel were very friendly and we enjoyed having a sake (rice wine) to recover at the bar whilst we had our names written down in the THREE alphabets used by the Japanese.  Hiragana and Katakana are a phonetic alphabet and are used for most names and foreign words whilst the Japanese also use Kanji, their given name to Chinese symbols.  It turned out that the symbol for Tom in Kanji meant ten dreams although it could also mean door.  Hannah meant flower but could also translate as nose, much to my amusement.  Unsure of who had come out on top we headed to bed.

Where's Wally

The next day was spent in a more leisurely fashion catching a glimpse of the giant wooden paddle, fending off the deer,  and to our horror two of our former students from Mexico (such a small world!). The only town on the island was crowded as most Japanese schools finish their academic year for the Sakura blossoms (that symbolise a new beginning across the country) which we were now able to see all around the town.  Miyajima is known as the Island of God by Shinto Buddhists and is actually worshipped as a god by some for the spiritual aura that surrounds the island.  Daisho-in temple at the foot of Mount Misen is one of a number of ancient temples on the island but it is by far the most atmospheric.  It also contains hundreds of 30cm tall statues covered in ‘Where’s Wally’ hats for no particular reason that we could ascertain.   We sampled some of the local food for lunch – a strange tofu/fish stick combo and some of the pungent giant oysters that are farmed all along the coast line.  At this point I was attacked by a young deer that kept butting me with his horns, trying to eat the map out of my pocket and so we called time on our visit and caught the tram back up into central Hiroshima.

The indestructible bridge

We spent our final day in the west of Japan taking a one hour train ride along the coast to Iwakuni, a small town in the Yamaguchi Prefecture (one of 47 states in the country).  The thin strip of land between the mountains and the coast is very industrial but thankfully we left the station and headed inland to the Nishiki River where a famous (at least in Japan) five arched wooden bridge spans the river.  Much to my amusement, the information leaflet describing the building of the bridge went into great detail to explain how the engineer used the most modern techniques to build a bridge that would never again be washed away before chronicling its destruction a year later.  In a similar vain to the indestructible bridge the impregnable castle that was built on a ridge overlooking the town only lasted seven years but was deemed worthy to have a reconstruction built, ten metres further forward than the original to give tourists better views!  The Sakura in Iwakuni was in full bloom and trees were dotted around a beautiful temple that was surrounded by gardens, fountains and a carp filled moat, creating a scene reminiscent of a fairy tale.  It made for a great final stop in the west as we later caught a night bus back to Osaka having really enjoyed our first week exploring Japan.