LOST IN TRANSLATION - Chapter 7 Miyajima
We took a navette from the hotel to get to Miyajima and on the way back another ferry to see Hiroshima in the day light. That is a chapter you may already have read.
It was raining too which was a great disappointment as we were to see this.
Everyone knows the great Torii and I guess everyone thinks of it being quite a distance from the coast - and red.
Miyajima Island, one of the most scenic spots in Japan and has long been regarded as an Island of Gods on the Seto Inland Sea. It is a romantic and historical island where the Itsukushima Shrine, a World Heritage site, is located, along with the Virgin Forest of Mt. Misen, and numerous preserved shrines, temples and historical monuments. We would be seeing quite a lot. But back to the Torii gate. Just not our lucky day as the tide was going out and the gate itself was undergoing repairs. What hit me first was that it is not red at all but a rather insignificant orange. I wonder if Jerome and Laurent were as disappointed as I was. Then as we came closer I began to see it differently. Just a few facts….
The base of the great Torii is not buried deep in the seabed, but stands by its own weight.
It stands on 6 pillars, and both the main pillars and the small pillars make it secure.
The box shaped upper part of the great Torii is filled with about 7 tons of stones, each as big as a human fist.
There are many more facts but these for me were the salient points.
I counted the pillars and when looking at the Toril closer, it did look as if it was floating even if the tide was on it’s way out. Because of the rain there were perhaps less tourists and when the tide was nearly out, the men went down to look closer.
There was a heron looking at me with his one eye and clear reflection in a seaweed flack of water.
Overhead birds flew around in circles, seemingly going no-where…
When the men came back we would discover more on the island - but there is an animal that discovers us first. The deer. They roam around and they too are considered to be sacred. Sacred thieves I would call them. One pushed me with his nose fighting hard to get into a pocket on my bag. I won.
There were the rickshaws and as the weather was now humid and sticky, they didn’t look as if they were enjoying their job.
Onto the Itsukushima Shrine. By now the tide was right out. The shrine and its Toril gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea during high tide. The shrine complex consists of multiple buildings, including a prayer hall, a main hall and a theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea. We wandered around looking at the shrine from every possible angle, admiring the gardens again and the trees which take my breath away every time.
There were the fortune tags hanging on gates A Franco-Japanese family who we crossed read my fortune for me. It was just too good to be true. I need a bit of luck but doubt that kind of "fortune".
Also synthetic looking food in restaurant windows
Signs again which brought a smile to our face….especially this one. Here it was pointing the way to the funicular. The track certainly went up - and up…I wasn’t prepared to go that far but would have if the weather had been clement and the clouds and mist were not blocking out the view. So we didn’t go and from the remarks that we heard as people came down, we were right not to have done so.
Rather nasty looking sculptures stared at us from a shop. Hardly the gift to take home.
What was lovely to see though, were the children. Disciplined tiny tots who had come with the teachers to visit the island....
along with adolescents too...
and then I turned and saw that even the sea beds were being cleared of seaweed.
Of course we were sorry not to see the island and its sites at high tide. It was time to take the ferry back to Hiroshima. I hoped the weather would improve tomorrow. Jizo must have heard me. It did.
It was raining too which was a great disappointment as we were to see this.
 |
| THE GREAT TORII |
Everyone knows the great Torii and I guess everyone thinks of it being quite a distance from the coast - and red.
Miyajima Island, one of the most scenic spots in Japan and has long been regarded as an Island of Gods on the Seto Inland Sea. It is a romantic and historical island where the Itsukushima Shrine, a World Heritage site, is located, along with the Virgin Forest of Mt. Misen, and numerous preserved shrines, temples and historical monuments. We would be seeing quite a lot. But back to the Torii gate. Just not our lucky day as the tide was going out and the gate itself was undergoing repairs. What hit me first was that it is not red at all but a rather insignificant orange. I wonder if Jerome and Laurent were as disappointed as I was. Then as we came closer I began to see it differently. Just a few facts….
 |
 |
The base of the great Torii is not buried deep in the seabed, but stands by its own weight.
It stands on 6 pillars, and both the main pillars and the small pillars make it secure.
The box shaped upper part of the great Torii is filled with about 7 tons of stones, each as big as a human fist.
There are many more facts but these for me were the salient points.
I counted the pillars and when looking at the Toril closer, it did look as if it was floating even if the tide was on it’s way out. Because of the rain there were perhaps less tourists and when the tide was nearly out, the men went down to look closer.
 |
| Looking closer |
 | |
There was a heron looking at me with his one eye and clear reflection in a seaweed flack of water.
Overhead birds flew around in circles, seemingly going no-where…
 | |
When the men came back we would discover more on the island - but there is an animal that discovers us first. The deer. They roam around and they too are considered to be sacred. Sacred thieves I would call them. One pushed me with his nose fighting hard to get into a pocket on my bag. I won.
 | ||||||
 |
There were the rickshaws and as the weather was now humid and sticky, they didn’t look as if they were enjoying their job.
 |
Onto the Itsukushima Shrine. By now the tide was right out. The shrine and its Toril gate are unique for being built over water, seemingly floating in the sea during high tide. The shrine complex consists of multiple buildings, including a prayer hall, a main hall and a theater stage, which are connected by boardwalks and supported by pillars above the sea. We wandered around looking at the shrine from every possible angle, admiring the gardens again and the trees which take my breath away every time.
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
 | |
There were the fortune tags hanging on gates A Franco-Japanese family who we crossed read my fortune for me. It was just too good to be true. I need a bit of luck but doubt that kind of "fortune".
Also synthetic looking food in restaurant windows
Signs again which brought a smile to our face….especially this one. Here it was pointing the way to the funicular. The track certainly went up - and up…I wasn’t prepared to go that far but would have if the weather had been clement and the clouds and mist were not blocking out the view. So we didn’t go and from the remarks that we heard as people came down, we were right not to have done so.
 | |
Rather nasty looking sculptures stared at us from a shop. Hardly the gift to take home.
 |
What was lovely to see though, were the children. Disciplined tiny tots who had come with the teachers to visit the island....
 |
along with adolescents too...
and then I turned and saw that even the sea beds were being cleared of seaweed.
 |
Of course we were sorry not to see the island and its sites at high tide. It was time to take the ferry back to Hiroshima. I hoped the weather would improve tomorrow. Jizo must have heard me. It did.
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