Off the coast of Hiroshima, the island Miyajima, Japan

The famous “floating” Torii gate in sight as we approached Miyajima by ferry.

On our day trip from Okayama to Hiroshima, we took the Shinkansen into the city. Without stopping to visit Hiroshima city itself, we headed straight for the local train service that would get us to the harbour. We were intent on taking a ferry across the water to a small island in the Hiroshima Prefecture. The shrine on the island is listed as a National Treasure in Japan as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site. If that’s not enough of a reason to visit, the free-roaming deer on the island would easily tip the balance. 🙂 Recommended by friends, we took the chance to visit Itsukushima (厳島) also known as Miyajima (宮島) within the limited time we had in the region. 

The ferry ride to Miyajima.

I should point out that this 10 minute ride from Hiroshima harbour to Miyajima was the only ferry trip that was covered by the Japan Rail Pass (previous post about this), hence no additional costs were needed to make this visit. While the crossing was short, it was a pleasant trip with calm seas and a clear sky above.

The Torii gate ‘floating’ a few hundred meters away from the Miyajima harbour out at sea.

Arriving at high tide, we were greeted by the Torii gate standing majestically out of the water, seemingly ‘floating’ on the calm water surface. It looked small from the distance especially with the mountains towering behind it, but we caught sight of small boats rowing pass the gate and it became evident that the Torii gate was much bigger than it seemed.

A couple of the deer on Miyajima.

As we stepped onto the island, we couldn’t help but notice the deer roaming about or lying under trees. Children and adults alike stood posing with the deer. Many had even bought wafer or biscuits from shops on the island to feed the deer with. In fact, some of these animals were so well fed that they weren’t even interested in the food offered. Moreover, the deer seemed accustomed to the tourism here as the constant chattering or screaming from children didn’t seem to affect them much.

For some insane reason, we decided to look for lunch on Miyajima. I guess we expected the island to have a couple of ramen shops. In truth, the island has a town center (kind of) with quaint little shops lining a couple of streets not far from the harbour. As expected, it was relatively touristic and the shops sold souvenirs and snacks. Restaurants were available but the prices were unbelievably high. After walking a round through the streets, we found a ramen shop which was affordable (not cheap by any standards) and had lunch there. There was nothing special about what we had there, certainly forgettable. If we ever visit the island again, we’ll most definitely bring our own lunch…would probably buy a bento box in Hiroshima before taking the ferry over.

The Torii gate up close and personal! …feeling very small beside it… 😛

At low tide, the Torii gate was just as exciting to see but even more exciting to walk to. Almost everyone visiting Miyajima had the same idea and a stream of people flooded to the gate like ants that have just found a candy bar. Under the Torii gate, children were picking up small change that others had previously tossed into the sea at the foot of the gate from boats during high-tide. We spent a good half hour under the Torii gate taking pictures and being simply fascinated by its size and grandeur, before slowly walking back as the number of people increased.

The Torii gate at low tide with tourists heading out or back from it.

We essentially spent the whole day on Miyajima which is not an impossible feat. Besides the Torii gate, we could have visited the shrine itself but lacked further curiosity since we had visited so many other shrines during our travels. The island had much to offer apart from the shrine and town center. The Miyajima public aquarium is a major attraction on the island for families. Within walking distance from the shrine, it houses dolphins, penguins and otters. Unfortunately we didn’t enter the aquarium as it was packed when we walked by. I don’t doubt it would have been a real pleasant experience. We did however make a walk up Mount Misen, the highest peak on Miyajima, but I’ll leave that for the next post. 🙂