Got some ok sleep last night, good enough to have a great day today.
Today was Miyajima. What’s that, you ask? Miyajima is a fantastic and possibly affordable island tourist destination. Temples, deer, snacks, easy hiking, cheap transportation….my kind of place!
I say possibly, bc it would be easy to spend a lot there. I didn’t, of course, being me.
The island is easily reached by ferry. Just cost me about 1.60$
So much to see and do. If you hiked to the summit of Mt. Misen (I didn’t), you could easily spend 8 hours.
Mostly I just wandered around looking at the MANY wonderful temples.
I left when all there was to do was shop. Laundry and a healthy dinner completed the day.
Here’s todays pictures…
I see this every morning on the way to the streetcar stationThe ferry, very quick passage, about 10 minutesMiyajima Island
Tairano Kiyomori
You’re not supposed* to feed the deer here, so they aren’t very interested in youWorld Heritage!Remarkably free of deer poo. It must be cleaned frequently
Itsukushima shrine. It actually cost a little to get in and I can see why. soooooo many people would just wear this place out without expensive and continuous maintenance When I got here the tide was just starting to go out.This was something new. Instead of a bell, you shake these paper rattles to get the attention of the gods
There were several couples here doing wedding photosThese sake barrels contain wine served to the gods as offerings at the altars
Here’s the tide going out fastJust a fire hydrantOne of many shrines dotted aboutThis one wasn’t getting any love at all
I couldn’t get any closer without taking pictures of people praying, which isn’t cool. The monks were chanting and burning cedarLook at this guy posing for me. How nice!
Daishoin, the other important temple. This one is Buddhist. The Dalai Lama gave a talk here earlier this monthPrayer wheels for going up AND downThis temples worshippers take turns knitting hats and scarves for those guysHere’s something more that’s new to me… You pay to throw three balls into an urn. Like a carnival game. If you get all three in, your wish comes true
The view was fantasticI didn’t ask him to cure anythingOf course this is just a picture of the mandala made for the Dalai Lama visit
So many great characters here
Ok this cave was neat. Devout Buddhists go on pilgrimages of course. The deal here is that sand and icons are collected from 88 other temples all over asia. You walk “across” the sand and pray at each one, and you can say that you made that pilgrimage 88 times. you can see the prayer beads at each station.
Obviously represents a well loved templeHere’s yet another new to me thing. You pull on the chain of beads and it makes this loud clacky sound. Instead of a bell, or drum, or paper rattle, or gong.This was the one-wish, all in one, one stop shopping god. I was told I had to make one wish, one time…and that’s it. We’ll see how it turns out
Enough culture, here’s a small dog
Even the emergency vehicles are adorableOnce you leave the main drag, it’s a normal town
This is just the first part….Of a 210 year old tree…That has been painstakingly trained by the employees of a famous tea shopThese momiji manju are extremely popular. I tried chestnuts cream, sweet potato, and of couse red beans. The chestnuts cream were the bestThis shop had free samples (wipes away tears)It was a penny pitch game. I had to line upAmanda Benson, I have found your nirvana. You pay to pet and love on owls by the minute.This shrine also had a torii in the seaBut you can see why nobody is hereAs soon as the tide is out, folks rush out to take picturesYou would not believe my excitement finding this for 600 yen. That’s like 5.35$. Now we’ll see tomorrow how much it’s going to cost getting it mailed home lol
Travels with Froggy and Other Stuff 