Visiting Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island

While reading about Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island in the Man Made Wonders book, I fretted that it would be difficult to visit the shriine. Turns out it was super easy to get to the island. After lunch, we took a 20-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal, then took a 20-minute ferry ride to Miyajima Island.

We timed our visit to coincide with high tide because the O-Torii Gate (Grand Gate) is apparently much prettier when it's floating in the water. A torii is a traditional Japanese gate typically found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The O-Torii gate at the entrance of Miyajima Jinja (shrine) is famous because it's in the water and so darn beautiful! The gate has apparently been rebuilt over the years but the current gate dates back to 1875 and stands 16 meters high.

There are 2 ferries you can take to get to Miyajima. The JR ferry gets you closer to the gate so it's by far more popular. It's a really pretty ferry ride to Miyajima. You get a sense of Japan's island nature and mountainous terrain.

Here's the ferry terminal.

 

Here's a view from the ferry as we left the mainland.

Alex, Christine and CJ enjoying the ride.

 CJ is just like me, he loves the water!

 

O-Torii Gate at a distance, from the ferry

 Just like at Nara Park, there were deer everywhere, but these deer didn't seem quite as friendly and they weren't nearly as fat and happy.

 Walking along the seawall toward Itsukushima Jinja.

 

Here's our group walking toward the shrine, right in front of another big gate.

 

While we were there, there was some type of dance performance going on.

 Rare photo of mommy with her boys.

 The whole family in front of the O-Torii Gate. It was such a beautiful day!

I can't believe I snapped this photo of the gate! 

At the top of the hill, there's an unfinished temple that is used by monks to pray for the war dead.

Great photo of MJ and Maki from the temple with a ginko tree in the background.

Despite its unfinished status, the temple was beautiful. It didn't seem unfinished to us!

 Next to the temple was a large pagoda.

Many of Maki's family members were jealous that we got to see Itsukushima Jinja. I think Miyajima is one of those famous places that most Japanese are familiar with but most never visit. There were certainly enough people visiting during our trip. Maki's mom says November is the best time to visit this party of Japan because of the cool temperatures and the changing of the colors.

Turns out it wasn't hard to get here and it was absolutely worth the trip!