Our next stop was Miyajima, the common name for Itsukushima island, which lies just off the mainland south of Hiroshima. Miyajima means “shrine island” in Japanese and is so named for its key shrine, Itsukushima Shrine and the Torii gate that are built over water. While the base of the gate is often covered in water except during extremely low tides, the Shrine is built high on the tidal flats and only “floats” during high tides.
In order to get to Miyajima, we took a bus to Kyoto station, then a Shinkansen to Hiroshima where we transferred to a local train that took us to the ferry dock for the short ride over to the island. While most people visit Miyajima as a day trip from Hiroshima, we were glad we spent the night at the Sakuraya hotel on the island. The hotel is a short walk from the ferry and has 22 rooms, four of which face the water. Our room was a water view room with western style beds. There is also a small public onsen in the basement. It was clean and warm but very basic.
We walked around Miyajima the afternoon of our arrival enjoying the sights, shops, and free roaming deer. Unlike Nara, people are not supposed to feed the deer on Miyajima, though the deer will try to eat just about anything that is dropped on the ground. I pulled a discarded paper brochure from the mouth of one deer as it was trying to chew and eat the glossy paper.
After dinner at a restaurant Angie found, we walked around a bit more and enjoyed the evening views with so many fewer people. We turned in early. I got up before sunrise the next morning and ventured out to hike to the top of Mt. Misen, a 2.5 mile trail that climbs about 1,700 feet to an observation deck. It was a great morning hiking by the light of my headlamp past various shrines, across streams and up the side of the steep mountain as I ascended via the Daisho-in trail. I mistimed my trip a bit and arrived at the summit about 10 minutes after sunrise. The view was gorgeous. I returned back down the hillside via the Momijiidani trail after about 30 minutes at the summit and arrived back at the hotel a little after 8:00 am.
Angie wasn’t feeling well and ended up skipping breakfast. We decided to forgo additional sightseeing around Miyajima and head back to Hiroshima mid morning. We hoped to be able to check in to our Hiroshima hotel early and rest a bit more.
