Japan Day 10 - Miyajima
Our day trip from Hiroshima to Miyajima was one of the things I was most looking forward to on this trip, and it certainly did not disappoint. Miyajima is famous for its enormous Torii gate, which resides in the middle of what is a bay, of sorts, when the tide is in, and in a tide flat when the tide is out. It is also home to some beautiful temples, and has some good hiking on its tallest peak, Mt. Koya. We were lucky enough to sample all of these during our visit, and it was easily one of the most memorable parts of our trip.
After a quick breakfast of the usual pastries and fruit, we started by taking the train and a ferry to get to the island. This is also where we got our first glimpse of the famous "floating" Torii gate, since the tide was pretty high at that point. From the ferry terminal, we walked along a shopping street, stopping to get a curry oyster roll for Cackett, and a couple of Momiji (baked goods in the shape of a maple leaf that are a famous food on the island, and really tasty). It started to rain a bit, so luckily our first stop was a covered shrine complex, the Ikutsushima Shrine. This shrine is built on stilts, so that when the tide comes in (it was high tide when we visited) it seems to be almost floating on the water, which was super cool. Also, maybe because of the rain, or because it was still fairly early, there weren't a ton of people there so it was quite serene.
After the temple, we wandered around a bit deciding what our game plan was, since the rain was still coming down and we weren't sure if we wanted to hike in the rain. We ultimately decided to get lunch and then decide, which turned out great. Lunch was one of the best meals we had in Japan, Anago (sea eel) - barbecued for Charlie and Cackett, and Tempura fried for me. It was super delicious and tender, and we even got to eat in a tatami room. We looked at our map to pick a hiking route (the rain seemed to be letting up by then), and after lunch we set out to the base of the trail at the Daisho-In temple. That temple had a little bit of everything, almost like they took elements of all the different temples in Japan and made a one stop shop. It even had a modern art collection of really neat statues made of metal and wood on display.
One of the more interesting things it had, though, was a bunch of little Buddha statues, many of which had been knitted little hats. They had some pretty adorable statues, so we spent a bit more time than we had planned wandering around seeing all the things.
Eventually, we made our way to the trailhead and started climbing the ridiculous number of stairs to the top of the mountain. I had thought that the trail we picked was the easy trail, with the most gradual slope, but when we got to the top we found out it was actually the intermediate trail, that took a slightly more direct route (though not quite straight up). There were a few others on the trail, including the ubiquitous seemingly underdressed tourist, in this case women in dresses that I have to assume took the ropeway up to the top rather than hiked because we were so sweaty and they seemed untouched by the heat and humidity. After about 2 hours of stair climbing we made it to the top of the mountain, and to the observatory, just in time for the rain to start back up again! Lucky the observatory was covered so we could hang out for a bit with a snack to let the rain pass.
From the peak, it was a 15 minute or so hike to a slightly lower peak where the ropeway station was situated, so that we could ride down, as planned. As you might expect, riding the ropeway down the mountain was a bit more nerve-wracking than riding up (similar to a ski lift) because you are facing away from the hill, but it did offer us really beautiful views. The rain made it hard to take good pictures, so this fun caricature will have to suffice.
We had planned our hike so that upon arriving back to the bottom of the mountain and into town it would be low tide, and our timing was, once again, perfect. The tide had gone all the way out, which meant we could now walk out to see the giant Torii gate up close, and take lots of pictures. It was hard to appreciate just how big the thing was until you got out next to it. The uprights seemed to be made from whole trees, and it towered above us. Barnacles clung to the bottom where it's submerged in water, along with other creepy crawly sea creatures. It was a truly spectacular sight, and I'm so glad we got to go see it.
By that point it was getting to be twilight, so we trekked back to the ferry terminal via the main shopping street, stopping to enjoy some deep fried Momiji cakes, which were soooo good warm. A short ferry ride and a train ride later we were back at Hiroshima station having dinner in a Japanese pub. It was a great way to end an overall great day.
After a quick breakfast of the usual pastries and fruit, we started by taking the train and a ferry to get to the island. This is also where we got our first glimpse of the famous "floating" Torii gate, since the tide was pretty high at that point. From the ferry terminal, we walked along a shopping street, stopping to get a curry oyster roll for Cackett, and a couple of Momiji (baked goods in the shape of a maple leaf that are a famous food on the island, and really tasty). It started to rain a bit, so luckily our first stop was a covered shrine complex, the Ikutsushima Shrine. This shrine is built on stilts, so that when the tide comes in (it was high tide when we visited) it seems to be almost floating on the water, which was super cool. Also, maybe because of the rain, or because it was still fairly early, there weren't a ton of people there so it was quite serene.
After the temple, we wandered around a bit deciding what our game plan was, since the rain was still coming down and we weren't sure if we wanted to hike in the rain. We ultimately decided to get lunch and then decide, which turned out great. Lunch was one of the best meals we had in Japan, Anago (sea eel) - barbecued for Charlie and Cackett, and Tempura fried for me. It was super delicious and tender, and we even got to eat in a tatami room. We looked at our map to pick a hiking route (the rain seemed to be letting up by then), and after lunch we set out to the base of the trail at the Daisho-In temple. That temple had a little bit of everything, almost like they took elements of all the different temples in Japan and made a one stop shop. It even had a modern art collection of really neat statues made of metal and wood on display.
One of the more interesting things it had, though, was a bunch of little Buddha statues, many of which had been knitted little hats. They had some pretty adorable statues, so we spent a bit more time than we had planned wandering around seeing all the things.
Eventually, we made our way to the trailhead and started climbing the ridiculous number of stairs to the top of the mountain. I had thought that the trail we picked was the easy trail, with the most gradual slope, but when we got to the top we found out it was actually the intermediate trail, that took a slightly more direct route (though not quite straight up). There were a few others on the trail, including the ubiquitous seemingly underdressed tourist, in this case women in dresses that I have to assume took the ropeway up to the top rather than hiked because we were so sweaty and they seemed untouched by the heat and humidity. After about 2 hours of stair climbing we made it to the top of the mountain, and to the observatory, just in time for the rain to start back up again! Lucky the observatory was covered so we could hang out for a bit with a snack to let the rain pass.
From the peak, it was a 15 minute or so hike to a slightly lower peak where the ropeway station was situated, so that we could ride down, as planned. As you might expect, riding the ropeway down the mountain was a bit more nerve-wracking than riding up (similar to a ski lift) because you are facing away from the hill, but it did offer us really beautiful views. The rain made it hard to take good pictures, so this fun caricature will have to suffice.
We had planned our hike so that upon arriving back to the bottom of the mountain and into town it would be low tide, and our timing was, once again, perfect. The tide had gone all the way out, which meant we could now walk out to see the giant Torii gate up close, and take lots of pictures. It was hard to appreciate just how big the thing was until you got out next to it. The uprights seemed to be made from whole trees, and it towered above us. Barnacles clung to the bottom where it's submerged in water, along with other creepy crawly sea creatures. It was a truly spectacular sight, and I'm so glad we got to go see it.
By that point it was getting to be twilight, so we trekked back to the ferry terminal via the main shopping street, stopping to enjoy some deep fried Momiji cakes, which were soooo good warm. A short ferry ride and a train ride later we were back at Hiroshima station having dinner in a Japanese pub. It was a great way to end an overall great day.
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