Travelling to Miyajima

This article is based on a visit made on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.

Previously on Sekai Ichi, I got back from a tour at the Mazda Museum and Factory.  After a quick lunch, I embarked on a day trip to the island of Miyajima, or Itsukushima if you are so inclined.  It didn't take very long to get there; the journey comprised of a 30-minute train ride from Hiroshima Station, followed by a 10-minute ferry.

If you're arriving from Miyajima-guchi Station, you will have to walk down a pedestrian underpass to reach the port.  There are a few pretty pieces of art decorating the walls of this tunnel.

This was one of a few paintings in the tunnel featuring these lovely, stately ladies.  I'm only taking an educated guess, but they could be the three deities enshrined at Itsukushima Shrine.  Those would be the three daughters of Susano'o-no-Mikoto (須佐之男命), who is in turn the brother of the sun goddess herself, Amaterasu.

After emerging, we head to the port across the street.  Two competing companies, JR and Matsudai, have ferries which depart to Miyajima.  Both ferries cost only ¥180, and depart every 15 minutes.  The JR ferries, but not the Matsudai ones, are free to use with a Japan Rail Pass.  As a rule of thumb, the JR ferries are clad in red-and-white livery, as seen above, where the Matsudai ferries are blue-and-white.

Along the way, we can see other ferries, and whatever these are, some kind of fishing platforms, perhaps.  They could be for harvesting oysters, which are a popular catch on both the island and mainland.

The island, and its landmark Itsukushima Shrine, can be seen from the boat.  All in good time, my friend...

Looking back the other way, I found this large and rather distinct white building nestled on the hills.  It turns out to be a museum called the Umi-Mori Art Museum.  But for the moment, I had to leave it behind me.

Most of Miyajima's attractions are within a ten-minute walk from the island's port.  The neighbourhood along the way is a quaint one, lined with plenty of traditional-looking buildings.  During daylight hours, the streets are also shared with a population of deer.  This gentle animal is revered in Shintoism as a messenger of the gods.  This is also true in Nara, another town with many religious sites.

Deer are such a symbol of the island that a local brewery used... this message to try to sell their beer.  "Deer Love Beer", you say?  Can we get an expert's opinion on that?

A popular treat that is widely available in Miyajima, and has even spread to Hiroshima, is Momiji-manju (もみじ饅頭).  These are pastries with a creamy filling and shaped in the form of a maple leaf, as the name implies ("momiji" is Japanese for "maple").  When they were invented in the early 20th century, they were traditionally filled with azuki (sweet red bean) paste.  The list of flavours has since expanded to include chocolate (shown above), custard, green tea, and more.  I wonder if there are maple-syrup manju out there, because that would be totally fitting, eh?

Finally, before I go, time for my sign-off selfie.  I managed to pet a deer for this one.  Maybe I shouldn't have, though, because just now I learned that petting the deer here is not recommended, nor is feeding them for that matter.  Maybe I should have read, or rather found, a sign like the one below.  But I didn't get in trouble for such a quick pet... yet.

z tanuki [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Now that we have our introductions out of the way, we can get to sight-seeing.  Our first stop will be the "shrine of a thousand mats", Senjokaku, next time on Sekai Ichi!

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For more information on how to get to Miyajima, read my article "Introduction to: Miyajima".