DAY FOUR
MONDAY, APRIL 3, 2023
A DAY TRIP TO MIYAJIMA ISLAND
We were so lucky to have beautiful weather for our day trip to Miyajima Island, a short ferry ride from Hiroshima. It took about an hour to get from our hotel to the ferry terminal by bus and subway, but then was a quick 10 minute ferry to the island.
Miyajima Island is home to some shops, restaurants, hiking, and a little beach, but mostly is known for the picturesque Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, the torii gate of which is in the water, looking like it’s floating during high tide.
Gonna copy and paste this from Wikipedia since I definitely don’t remember the details off the top of my head: The shrine is said to have been erected in 593 supposedly by Saeki Kuramoto during the reign of Empress Suiko (592–628 CE). However, the present shrine has been popularly attributed to Taira no Kiyomori, a prominent noble of the Imperial Court and later Chancellor (Daijō-daijin), who contributed heavily to the construction of the shrine during his time as governor of Aki Province in 1168.
Arriving at the shore, we regrouped at some displays in the entry building where Maho explained the island’s history, then met again outside at a statue of Taira No Kiyomori. He had rebuilt the shrine in the 12th Century and apparently doesn’t have a very positive reputation in history, but is definitely revered in this part of the country.
After that introduction, we walked down to the beach area to get a closer view of the “floating” torii gate before leisurely walking through the shrine itself.
One of the most unique things about the island is that there’s an endemic population of sika deer. I had read that ahead of time and wasn’t sure if we’d spot one, but I had entirely the wrong perception as they’re all over the place! I also didn’t realize at the time that in Shinto, deer are thought of as sacred because they are considered messengers of the gods, which adds another more meaningful layer to their presence.
Photo by Maho
The shrine itself was built in the 1100s, but the restorations make it look like it was built last week. Everything is bright and shiny orange, and pristine, at least in the sections we walked through.
On the itinerary was an oyster tasting for lunch, so I was just planning on not having lunch. But on the first night when we were filling out forms, one of the questions was whether we wanted that lunch, so it was a nice surprise that three of us split off with Mamico to have something non-oyster.
Not only was it nice to have a substitute meal, it was one of the tastiest meals I had in Japan – Chinese dan dan noodles (ground pork in a mildly spicy peanut or maybe tahini sauce), enjoyed while sitting at an outdoor table at this cute place called Cafe Lente. Googling the cafe, I have been able to find no trace of anyone ever eating dan dan noodles at this cafe, so I am wondering if Mamico ordered off the menu? Either way, it was memorably delicious, amplified by a particularly pretty setting, looking out at the torii gate and deer passing by.
Such a nice view!
During lunch, the tide went out quite a bit, allowing people to walk out to the gate. We walked around outside for a few minutes and then over to meet the rest of the group.
At this point the rest of the day was a free day. When we met the rest of the group, some had already split off to go back to Hiroshima, some went on a hike to the top of the island, and a bunch were going to walk around for a bit and find a spot on the beach. I obviously joined the latter.
We wandered through the shops and streets, ultimately walking up to the base of the big pagoda that we had been seeing all day.
We found ourselves back down at the torii gate, where I left the group to go walk around with my camera for a little while before meeting them back at the beach.
Visiting at the tail end of cherry blossom season meant so many gorgeous displays of falling petals every time the wind picked up. Really took my breath away every time.
Meeting the group back at the beach, we just sat there for a while and enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather, the beautiful, unique view, and the great company.
We were of course then visited by a friendly deer!
Leaving the beach, there was a suggestion to visit a cute little sake store that someone had passed, so we made our way over. Several people bought sake, and I think almost all of us got this little pair of tiny ceramic sake cups with an image of the torii gate in them.
Leaving the sake store, it was time to take the ferry back to the mainland and the metro back to the hotel so we could get ready for a group dinner.
Dinner tonight was at Okonomimura, a multi-story food hall serving fresh okonomiyaki. Osaka and Hiroshima apparently have a friendly rivalry between their pancakes, so I’m glad we were able to try both to compare. Honestly? They were both delicious and I’m not sure I could pinpoint every difference between the two (I think the biggest difference is that Osaka mixes all of the ingredients together while Hiroshima layers them), but I have to give Hiroshima the edge for the very fun experience we had at this food hall.
Finally, a bunch of us wanted to stop again at the taiyaki place that Maho and Mamico had taken us the night before, for a warm custard-filled waffle fish, before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.
