Miyajima is a small island less than an hour outside the city of Hiroshima. It is most famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on the water. The sight of the floating gate is ranked as one of Japan’s three best views (according to a Confucian scholar in 1643, so that settles it!), and is a World Cultural Heritage site.
4.6 million people visited in the year prior to COVID, and most of them catch the ferry. That’s over 13,000 cramming on every day, so if you can’t beat them, you better join them was our philosophy. Well it was, until we saw that there were so many school groups about to descend on the island that they were given their own ferry to rampage around.
And when the the 13,002 of us got off, everybody wanted to stand in exactly the same spot to capture ‘that view’. Would it surprise you to find that we didn’t? Plenty of lovely views without queueing single file for an hour, then waiting while Aunty Akiko works out how to get her phone to focus.
The famous torii gate is vermillion of course, stands 17 metres, weighs around 60 tons and the present version was erected in 1875. It’s actually freestanding, rather than having foundations. Lots of groups hop into kayaks and paddle through the torii while having their photos taken, much to the annoyance of Aunty Akiko who has just got her act into gear.
Had some breakfast in a cafe when we first arrived, mainly to let the hoards of school groups get ahead of us. After admiring the torii gate, and taking the required number of photos, we took off on some of the remoter tracks around the island where no school groups would dare to venture. However, we did come across one group of tinys dressed in a variety of halloween costumes (yep, it’s halloween tonight), all tied together with rope, and the smallest of them in a towed cart. They must have been all of 2 or 3 years old, and were far more interested in the deer wandering around than an old building that some dude from UNESCO thought was a highlight.
Took several backroads through areas designated as Nature Walks, which meant that it was peaceful and deserted for much of the time. Eventually arrived at the foot of the cable car (which they call a ropeway) to ascend Mt Misen. Only 535 metres high, so it doesn’t threaten Everest, but steep enough to warrant a bit of assistance. The cable car is in two halves. The first half is in cars of 6 people in a continuous up-and-back loop, much like a ski resort, but the second half is in large cars carrying 16 people in a funicular arrangement where one car is going up as the other car is descending.
Sat and enjoyed the view at the top whilst we ate lunch, wandered around a bit, then reversed our route back to the bottom station. Wandered down another nature walk back to the pier, and onto the next ferry back to the mainland, then a train back to the city.
Temporarily ditched rice and seaweed, and opted for pasta at an Italian restaurant for dinner. Halloween tonight, and many tourists are joining in the fun. Cameras are being set up to record the dress ups. I’m told that Halloween is officially frowned upon here in Japan “as it rude to go knocking on the doors of people you don’t know, and interrupting them by having to open their door to a stranger”.
The Famous Miyajima Torii Gate
Cable Car (Ropeway) Up Mt Misen
The View From The Top
Deer Roam Here Too
Everything in Japan is Compact