Chapter 12
Day 12
Miyajima
We got up in our sea view room. The sun was already high and we could feel noises coming from the harbor. In front of the hotel the beach looked larger than before as the tide was very low. The sky was barely cloudy, but it looked like it could becoming a sunny day.
We wore our Yukata and we went into the hotel hall for breakfast, as this was the only meal which wasn’t served in our room. As soon as we entered into the hall, we discovered that we were the only two wearing Yukata, while the rest of the people were dressed casual. Perhaps, we were doing something wrong. I decided to order a Typical Japanese Breakfast, while Lula took an European none. The Japanese breakfast was made of a huge amount of small dishes with a variety of foods hardly matching our idea of breakfast. There was soup, Tofu, different kinds of fish, some fried, some steamed some cooked in vinegar or whatever. Just to be polite, I’d say that I liked some of the foods, like the others were pure violence. Actually, I envied Lula’s Coffee and Croissant.
When we came back to our room to change our cloche, we discovered that the super efficient staff already cleaned our room and the futon disappeared. So, we got dressed with our normal clothes and we left for a day of exploration. First a ride with the Van to the main village, and from there we went uphill to the cableway station. In the meanwhile we noticed that thanks to the low tide, the O-Torii portal was completely on the dry sand. Only in the afternoon, with the high tide, it’d be back in water.
We wore our Yukata and we went into the hotel hall for breakfast, as this was the only meal which wasn’t served in our room. As soon as we entered into the hall, we discovered that we were the only two wearing Yukata, while the rest of the people were dressed casual. Perhaps, we were doing something wrong. I decided to order a Typical Japanese Breakfast, while Lula took an European none. The Japanese breakfast was made of a huge amount of small dishes with a variety of foods hardly matching our idea of breakfast. There was soup, Tofu, different kinds of fish, some fried, some steamed some cooked in vinegar or whatever. Just to be polite, I’d say that I liked some of the foods, like the others were pure violence. Actually, I envied Lula’s Coffee and Croissant.
When we came back to our room to change our cloche, we discovered that the super efficient staff already cleaned our room and the futon disappeared. So, we got dressed with our normal clothes and we left for a day of exploration. First a ride with the Van to the main village, and from there we went uphill to the cableway station. In the meanwhile we noticed that thanks to the low tide, the O-Torii portal was completely on the dry sand. Only in the afternoon, with the high tide, it’d be back in water.
Mt. Misen
We took the cableway, and with it, we passed by very beautiful cliffs that looked like somebody sprinkled them with random trees. From far, in the sea between Miyajima and Hiroshima, we could see many Oyster Farms spreading wide.
From the high cableway station, we had first to descend into the woods and then up again the Misen Mountain. All around of us there were so many deer and monkeys. We went forward, but the heat was almost unbearable. Soon we became soaked in sweat, but, differently of us, Japanese people looked like they were sweating at all. There were also ladies climbing in dresses and heels, of course, without sweating. Like they were just sitting in their air-con offices. They were misplaced. They were surrel. Where they real? Or some Kitsune was making fool of us?
Along the climb we met both some sacred place and places where people had fun making some Stoning, that means, sculptures made with stones piled in balance.
The first temple was the Reika-Do Hall, the hall which enshrines the “Sacred Flame”. Following the legend, in the inside of this hall there is a brazier in which keeps on burning for centuries a flame started by Kobo Daishi, a monk that founded the first and main Japanese Buddhist School, he was one of those that encoded the art of calligraphy and was a mystic too. Following the legend, this flame is keeping on burning from centuries and was also used to light the flame into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
We kept on climbing. Every now and then we met Japanese men along with Kitsunes in the shape of cool-dressed-cute-girls. Cute girls all but sweaty. Damn foxy ladies… How did they do? When the God were giving away the sweat glandes, the Japanese were late playing videogames? It was hot, humid and a steep climb. They were wearing even elbow long gloves that just thinking of that heat could make me fain like even the Wadi Rum desert didn’t do… I guess that there was a trick… I must be so… Should we sting them all with needles, burn them with sacred flames or beat them with the all the rocks used for the “stoning sculptures” in order to reveal their true shape of sweaty foxes? Yes, it must be so.
The next temple was the Misenhodo Hall which is placed just in front of the Reika-Do Hall. We visited it and we kept with our climb until we reached another temple, the Sanki-Do Hall. Temple was quite small, but it had a peculiarity that made it rise to one of our favourite ones. On a side of the temple there is a balcony equipped with nice small cushions where you can stop, meditate and contemplate the valley and the sea. The panorama is fantastic. We spent some time there relaxing watching at that landscape, and thinking that the same morning we were down there, near the sea. The air felt pure and for some moment, when the Japanese guys weren’t messing around, it gave us a deep sense of relaxation. Or we were just tired for the climb in that heat… Anyway, after that climb, this balcony was exactly what we were looking for, so this place was, and still is, a perfect place, awesome, fantastic and all the cliché words that I could use to say that I loved, and I still love, this place.
Along the climb, when we were almost on the top we reached the Fudo Iwa Cave Shrine. In this place huge boulders are laying all around like a giant tossed them around to puzzle us, as we think that some geological event could have generated it. On a side, the giants made a sort of cave where humans decided to make a small shrine. To visit it, you should climb a small ladder. On a side of this boulder-mess the path goes under some rocks, like a stone-age-giant-made Torii. We passed under it, and soon later we reached the top of the mountain.
When we reached the top we found ourselves cheered again up, like if all the heat and fatigue just vanished. We spent some long time there drinking a local soda and glancing at the landscape. It was great to look at this part of Japan from the top of the mountain. It had been worth, that was sure!
Later we went back down on an alternate path that was crossing some woods, then we reached the cableway, and again all the way down to the coastal village.
In the street that goes down from the cableway lower station, cuts through the woods and takes to the coastal village, we passed by some housings. I checked them out, and I discovered that one of them was a restaurant. It was past midday and we were in one of the oysters homelands, so we should try some oyster out. Soon a nice and smiling old lady came to us with a very used and abused menu. Among the cracks on the plastic coating, the stains of food and fingerprints made with I don’t-know-what-kind-of-dirt we could read out the extensive offering of the restaurant. We ordered a dish of Soba (buckwheat noodles) and, of course, Oysters. The smiling lady took our order and after a few minutes she came back with the Soba. These noodles were served on a bamboo steamer and they were mixed with tasty Nori Algae. They were still a little hard, the way I like them and very tasty. Probably they were the best ones that we ate in all Japan. We just had the time to see the noodles that she came back again with our oysters. They weren’t served raw, like they are given in the West. They were steamed. In the beginning we were puzzled by these Oysters and we thought “We eat cook fish, they eat raw, we eat raw oysters, they cook them…”, but when we tried them these Oysters were fantastic. They were tasting of the sea, they were juicy and really delicate. We loved them and we loved the Smiling Lady too.
From the high cableway station, we had first to descend into the woods and then up again the Misen Mountain. All around of us there were so many deer and monkeys. We went forward, but the heat was almost unbearable. Soon we became soaked in sweat, but, differently of us, Japanese people looked like they were sweating at all. There were also ladies climbing in dresses and heels, of course, without sweating. Like they were just sitting in their air-con offices. They were misplaced. They were surrel. Where they real? Or some Kitsune was making fool of us?
Along the climb we met both some sacred place and places where people had fun making some Stoning, that means, sculptures made with stones piled in balance.
The first temple was the Reika-Do Hall, the hall which enshrines the “Sacred Flame”. Following the legend, in the inside of this hall there is a brazier in which keeps on burning for centuries a flame started by Kobo Daishi, a monk that founded the first and main Japanese Buddhist School, he was one of those that encoded the art of calligraphy and was a mystic too. Following the legend, this flame is keeping on burning from centuries and was also used to light the flame into the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
We kept on climbing. Every now and then we met Japanese men along with Kitsunes in the shape of cool-dressed-cute-girls. Cute girls all but sweaty. Damn foxy ladies… How did they do? When the God were giving away the sweat glandes, the Japanese were late playing videogames? It was hot, humid and a steep climb. They were wearing even elbow long gloves that just thinking of that heat could make me fain like even the Wadi Rum desert didn’t do… I guess that there was a trick… I must be so… Should we sting them all with needles, burn them with sacred flames or beat them with the all the rocks used for the “stoning sculptures” in order to reveal their true shape of sweaty foxes? Yes, it must be so.
The next temple was the Misenhodo Hall which is placed just in front of the Reika-Do Hall. We visited it and we kept with our climb until we reached another temple, the Sanki-Do Hall. Temple was quite small, but it had a peculiarity that made it rise to one of our favourite ones. On a side of the temple there is a balcony equipped with nice small cushions where you can stop, meditate and contemplate the valley and the sea. The panorama is fantastic. We spent some time there relaxing watching at that landscape, and thinking that the same morning we were down there, near the sea. The air felt pure and for some moment, when the Japanese guys weren’t messing around, it gave us a deep sense of relaxation. Or we were just tired for the climb in that heat… Anyway, after that climb, this balcony was exactly what we were looking for, so this place was, and still is, a perfect place, awesome, fantastic and all the cliché words that I could use to say that I loved, and I still love, this place.
Along the climb, when we were almost on the top we reached the Fudo Iwa Cave Shrine. In this place huge boulders are laying all around like a giant tossed them around to puzzle us, as we think that some geological event could have generated it. On a side, the giants made a sort of cave where humans decided to make a small shrine. To visit it, you should climb a small ladder. On a side of this boulder-mess the path goes under some rocks, like a stone-age-giant-made Torii. We passed under it, and soon later we reached the top of the mountain.
When we reached the top we found ourselves cheered again up, like if all the heat and fatigue just vanished. We spent some long time there drinking a local soda and glancing at the landscape. It was great to look at this part of Japan from the top of the mountain. It had been worth, that was sure!
Later we went back down on an alternate path that was crossing some woods, then we reached the cableway, and again all the way down to the coastal village.
In the street that goes down from the cableway lower station, cuts through the woods and takes to the coastal village, we passed by some housings. I checked them out, and I discovered that one of them was a restaurant. It was past midday and we were in one of the oysters homelands, so we should try some oyster out. Soon a nice and smiling old lady came to us with a very used and abused menu. Among the cracks on the plastic coating, the stains of food and fingerprints made with I don’t-know-what-kind-of-dirt we could read out the extensive offering of the restaurant. We ordered a dish of Soba (buckwheat noodles) and, of course, Oysters. The smiling lady took our order and after a few minutes she came back with the Soba. These noodles were served on a bamboo steamer and they were mixed with tasty Nori Algae. They were still a little hard, the way I like them and very tasty. Probably they were the best ones that we ate in all Japan. We just had the time to see the noodles that she came back again with our oysters. They weren’t served raw, like they are given in the West. They were steamed. In the beginning we were puzzled by these Oysters and we thought “We eat cook fish, they eat raw, we eat raw oysters, they cook them…”, but when we tried them these Oysters were fantastic. They were tasting of the sea, they were juicy and really delicate. We loved them and we loved the Smiling Lady too.
Daisho-In Temple
We made all the way down to the coast, but as soon as we reached the village, we headed for another temple, it was the Daisho-In Temple. Actually, I think that calling it just “Temple” looks reductive as it’s very huge and it’s made of a multitude of interconnected halls, gardens, temples and shrines. The same ways that connect the different areas have sacred spots too, like a stairway flanked by copper praying rolls. Just to give an example of our visit, we entered passing through the so called Niomon Gate that leads straight to the 500 Rakan Statues, which are like statues of baby monks, then we went by the Dai-Hannyakyo Sutra which are copper rolls with sutras written over, and then we reached the Sacred Belfry Bell, which brings Good Luck if ringed. In this area there are shrines with several statues of the Goddess Kannon, Tibetan-style praying rolls, Sand Mandala, halls with 1000 Fudo images and much more. Seeing that for a tourist is impossible to describe it all, I suggest you to visit the official website of this temple that has plenty of information about the different areas. The address is http://visit-miyajima-japan.com/en/culture-and-heritage/spiritual-heritage-temples-shrines/daisho-in.html .
Itsukushima-Jinja Temple and O-Torii
We went out of the
Daisho-In temple that was almost evening. We reached the coastal village and
followed the left hand side coast. The breeze was taking a nice smell of the
sea, and the golden sun rays were warm and not anymore scorching. It was a
pleasure to be there.
We passed by the Itsukushima-Jinja Temple, also known as “The Floating Temple” which is the “Stilt House Temple” that we seen from the sea the previous day. We looked at it from outside, but we decided to not enter it. We went along the coast and reached the beach. This beach was much better than the one that we visited the previous day on the opposite side of the island. In the water by this beach there is the symbol of Miyajima, the famous O-Torii Portal. Like many other tourists, mainly westerners, we spent a long time enjoying the sight of the fierce red-painted O-Torii which emerged from the sea. The freeze caressed us, and the rhythm of the waves with their delicate sound was a hypnotizing pleasure. Soon later the tide started to rise fast, so we decided to come back to the village and then to the hotel.
We passed by the Itsukushima-Jinja Temple, also known as “The Floating Temple” which is the “Stilt House Temple” that we seen from the sea the previous day. We looked at it from outside, but we decided to not enter it. We went along the coast and reached the beach. This beach was much better than the one that we visited the previous day on the opposite side of the island. In the water by this beach there is the symbol of Miyajima, the famous O-Torii Portal. Like many other tourists, mainly westerners, we spent a long time enjoying the sight of the fierce red-painted O-Torii which emerged from the sea. The freeze caressed us, and the rhythm of the waves with their delicate sound was a hypnotizing pleasure. Soon later the tide started to rise fast, so we decided to come back to the village and then to the hotel.
Evening in Miyajima
We wandered across the island all the day long, so now, after a nice and refreshing shower, we relaxed dining in our room, drinking the Sakè and enjoying the sight of Hiroshima on this quiet sea.
Before going to sleep we had to pack our backpacks again as the next day we should go back to Kyoto.
Good Night Miyajima!
Before going to sleep we had to pack our backpacks again as the next day we should go back to Kyoto.
Good Night Miyajima!