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| Miyajima |
From Hiroshima, we took the train and ferry to the island of Miyajima, to see the Itsukushima Shrine and its famous Torii Gate.
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| Miyajima |
Miyajima would be quite a nice, if hilly, island to explore anyway, with its primeval forest, ropeway, and multiple temples.
Unfortunately, it rained almost all the time we were here, and being the fairweather travellers that we are, we didn't fancy getting that wet.
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| Miyajima |
We did visit the rather pretty five storey pagoda, and the Toyokuni Shrine next door. The Shrine is also known as Senjokaku, which means '1000 Tatami Mats Hall', and was built in 1587, as a library to hold Buddhist Sutras.
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| Miyajima |
However it seems that, following the death of Hideyoshi
Toyokuni, the building was never completed, as there are no walls and the wooden structure has never been painted; actually the unpainted, and now weathered finish, looks good.
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| Miyajima |
The structure was converted to a Shinto Shrine during the Meiji period, and contains a number of large decorated votive boards, and well as lots of rice paddles, some of which are pretty big. Not the largest rice paddle in the world though, that honour is held by the especially large one kept in the town, but I seem to have lost my photo of it. Why all the rice paddles? Apparently this was where they were invented.
There are more deer here too, though they ask you not to feed them, so they're not as friendly. There will still try to steal any paper to eat that though, so careful of your maps. Not sure why deer like eating paper, but they do.
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| Miyajima |
The main attraction though, is the Itsukushima Shrine. It is quite an impressive shrine, with multiple rooms, including a Noh stage, but the main factor is its setting. With the forest behind it, and the sea out to the front, with piers going out over the water, it looks pretty good. The vermillion colour is said to keep evil spirits away.
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| Miyajima |
Then you add the huge 16m tall Torii Gate, that stands off in the water. Needless to say, this is a great photo opportunity, and local photographers have taken full advantage of it by setting up benches for group photos, with the gate in the background and, if they're lucky, the added extra of a couple of deer.
There has been a torii gate here since 1168, although this current one was built in 1875. At low tide, locals also come out to collect shellfish; we certainly saw lots of little crabs.
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| Miyajima |
You can also walk out to the base of the gate, and see where people press coins into the base and make a wish. Mind you don't get your feet wet though.
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
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| Miyajima |
