Shrine Island

Miyajima is an island located in the Hiroshima bay. Although popularly known as Miyajima (which means "Shrine Island" in Japanese) the islands actual name is Itsukushima. Miyajima is well known in Japan for its beautiful scenery, nature and history. Most people visit Miyajima for its Shinto shrine and ‘floating’ torii gate.

Hope you enjoy the blog and my amateur photography.

Boat to Miyajima

To get to Miyajima we travelled on the San-yo metro line from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi where you have to go to get the ferry across to the island, this takes just less than an hour. The ferry is free for anyone with a JR train pass. The Ferry to the island takes around 15mins but the scenery from the ferry is beautiful.

Views across Hiroshima bay from the ferry.

First close view of the island.

Miyajima with it's famous torii gate.

In the Shinto religion torii gates are believed to be the gateway between the earthly and the sacred. Although the current gate only dates from 1875, the first gate here was in 1168.

The Island

According to the locals it's apparently forbidden to die or be buried on the island due to Miyajima being a sacred place. There are no hospitals or graveyards on Miyajima even to this very day. If you go - stay safe.

View of the Great torii from Miyajima shore.

Itsukushima Shrine.

Itsukushima shrine with the five story pagoda in he background

View of the gate and mainland from the shrine

The five story pagoda was built in 1407 and has an atypical zen Buddhism design. It sits on the hill above Itsukushima shrine and is an amazing piece of architecture.

The island is large so exploring the full island would probably take more than a day, we arrived mid-day and left after about 5 hours but if you visit I suggest staying overnight. There are a couple of hotels. In the town there are also restaurants and shops selling souvenirs.

My lunch, squid on a stick!

There are over 500 dear on Miyajima and all of them are very tame, they mix with tourists and even try and steal your food. They are seen as messengers from God in Shinto so are not harmed or hunted.