There has been a picture of a floating torii gate on my photographers vision board for as long as I can remember though neither of us had ever bothered to research where it is (or if it exists). I had heard rumours of a beautiful torii gate on an island really close to Hiroshima and decided I would visit whilst I stayed in Hiroshima. As you know I really liked Hiroshima and that made me even more excited to head out and see one of the smaller Japanese Islands. I got up really early because I was worried about the amount of people who would be visiting the island but this meant I had breakfast in bed before I went out. My photographer and I always travel with porridge and coffee to save time searching for breakfast on a morning.
If there is an opportunity to go on a boat, we all know I am the first one in line and this adventure was no different. I took the JR line from Hiroshima station to Miyajimaguchi Station, a small seafront town which is quintessentially Japanese. In hindsight I should have stayed to explore for a while but I got slightly too excited when I saw the ferry terminal. My JR pass covered the 10 minute ferry crossing to Miyajima Island, there is also a longer crossing from Hiroshima to Miyajima but it does not run as often as the shorter route.
I was rather disappointed that the ferry was so short but the views were incredible, I was advised to go the the right side of the boat and it was some of the best advice I was given in Japan. Hiroshima bay has a few islands which are easily visible from the ferry but I was surprised at how close the island of Miyajima is, there is only an oyster farm separating the mainland from the island. It doesn’t take long for the ferry to turn to the left, then one of the islands most famous sites becomes visible. The Itsukushima Jinja Otorii or red floating torii gate is visible and the view is just stunning, as is the view of Miyajima town. Even though the low cloud was covering some of the mountains when I visited (perks of rainy season) the whole bay area is very beautiful. I arrived on the island with the high tide which meant I had time to see the torii gate both floating and standing in the sand.
The ferry terminal is on the edge of the town and around one kilometre from the famous torii gate, making the entire area easy to explore on foot. I headed straight to the gate because I had so many places I wanted to explore and such a short time to see everything on my list. Dodging the deer (more on the naughty little creatures later), I walked under my first torii of the day and followed the path along the seafront which had stunning views across Hiroshima bay. My photographer was beginning to sound like a broken record by announcing they had seen the most beautiful view ever, after taking four or five steps from the previous announcement (don’t tell them but all the statements were true).
Itsukushima Jinja Otorii is a world heritage site and photographs are often shared on social media but seeing the gate in person is a really humbling experience. Standing silently in the sea, the red torii gate proves manmade architecture and natural elements can live in harmony. The site is very holy in Shintoism, a religion which I find fascinating but do not know much about. Red torii are thought to ward of evil spirits, danger and bad luck. They symbolically represent a separation between the physical world and a divine or sacred space. It is thought there has been a torii gate in this location since the 6th century and I believe the sacred space is Miyajima Island because it has an ethereal aura I haven’t experienced anywhere else. Sadly, I did not have time to enter the shrine area because I thought the seventeen buildings would take too long to fully explore.
Instead I headed up towards the forest to climb the sacred Mount Misen, a beautiful experience which I will write about in a separate post. Upon ending my hike I realised the tide had gone out and the torii gate was on the beach and you could walk right up to it. However, I thought it looked best from afar because it is a lot bigger than it appears in the photographs.
I wandered across Mikasa beach just because it was a shortcut from a residential area to a lovely coffee shop and I was excited to escape the humidity for a short while. Miyajima coffee is located on the Omotesando shopping trail and initially it looks like a takeaway coffee place but there are seats around the side which provide a great spot for people watching (one of my favourite activities after eating). My time in Japan has turned me into a iced coffee drinking insta-dinosaur and I love it.
I would have happily sat for hours but my time on the island was very limited so I once again headed out into the heat. However, the main shopping street is sheltered from the sun which makes exploring in the summer slightly more bearable. I am not a dinosaur who loves shopping but Miyajima had some really interesting shops, my favourite was the soy sauce shop which was lit only by lanterns. My photographer loved the Studio Ghibli store (no surprises there, we all love Studio Ghibli). Whilst walking through the main street, I found some new friends who were more than happy to help me pose for a photo. Rilakkuma and korilakkuma are famous in the world of anime, unbeknown to me, I was just happy to meet some more friendly locals. Whilst I was doing some posing a Japanese man gifted me a beautiful origami crane, I was left speechless by the kind gesture and felt really bad that I could only say the most basic thank you in broken Japanese.
I had a quick snooze whilst my photographer picked up a few things in the local shops, it is worth visiting the island for the hand painted fans (so beautiful and much cheaper than the bigger cities). I headed past some beautiful Japanese wooden houses (something I will never not be obsessed with) and aimed to find some of the island’s furry residents. Sika deer can be found all over the island and they know they own the island. These deer are possibly the hungriest creatures I have ever met and I eat a lot. I sat by the ocean watching the deer try to eat handbags, maps and even my photographer’s t-shirt; I’ve never laughed so much. The male deer were all chilling in the shade of the trees, pretending that they weren’t part of the crazy deer activities which were happening.
My next stop was the five storied pagoda which I had spotted from the ferry. You would think this big red building would be easy to find, but it was not. I was disappointed that I didn’t find the street where the pagoda appears to sit at the end. Instead I had to retrace my steps around the coast until I found a (huge) flight of stairs which took me to the Toyokuni Shrine.
The shrine is picture perfect but I was only able to walk around the outside of the building which was worth it because the views were stunning. Weirdly at the top of the hill I found lots of small red crabs running about to avoid the sika deer.
They are red-clawed mangrove crabs which don’t need to be close to the ocean as I thought all crustaceans needed salty water. Though they are only 4 inches long, these crabs are not shy and will fight off any suspected danger (you know, like a humans toes).
Realising it was nearly 4pm and I still had not eaten anything, I headed back to the town in search of a late lunch. Sadly, being a veggiesaurus on Miyajima isn’t the easiest, there are options for tempura vegetables and a café which does vegetable risotto but I couldn’t (be bothered to search for) find the restaurants. Instead I went to Starbucks for a well earned slice of Mikan cake, it isn’t a healthy option but I had walked 9.6 miles and ordered in (terrible) Japanese so I felt like I had earned it. The view from Starbucks is beautiful as the seating area is on the 2nd floor and it looks out over Hiroshima bay and the floating torii gate.
It was a lovely end to a perfect day, the only thing I would love to have witnessed was a sunset from the island. However, I was really tired from all the walking so I headed back to the ferry terminal to catch a boat back the main island. I didn’t have to wait long because the ferry departs every 15 minutes. The skies had cleared and I could see the tops of the mountains from the boat, making the 10 minute crossing even more beautiful than the mornings journey.
Both my photographer and I were really sad to leave Miyajima and would love to have stayed for a few days to explore at a slower pace. I would definitely recommend staying on the island for at least one night because the hike alone is really strenuous and takes around 3 hours (if you don’t use the ropeway). That would give you another day to explore the town without rushing because many shops and attractions close really early.
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3 thoughts on “Magical Miyajima Island”