Shunbun no Hi: Mystical Miyajima

Shunbun no Hi （春分の日/ Vernal Equinox Day) was on 20th March this year, which meant a day off from Japanese lessons! I decided to go to Miyajima; a small island in the Setoda Inland Sea, a few miles from Hiroshima.

Miyajima is most famous for its temples, floating tori gate and roaming deer (who like to steal food from unsuspecting tourists). 

It's very easy to get to Miyajima from Hiroshima Station - just take the JR Sanyo Line （山陽線）to Miyajimaguchi（宮島口）(about 30 minutes and ￥400). But whatever you do, DON'T make the mistake I made. I worked out it would be slightly cheaper to buy the combined tram and Miyajima Ferry pass from the station. So I set out on the number 2 tram for Miyajima. The journey lasted over an hour (T_T) For part of the journey, the tram ran parrallel to the Sanyo line. Every time I saw one of those trains whizz past, I died a little inside. I felt like Sen from Spirited Away when she got on the train to Zeniba's house: seeing countless people getting on and off on their daily commutes. With the exception of an annoying young Japanese couple holding hands and giggling all the time. They were in for the whole journey too. It was just getting better and better... 

After the train, there's a short ferry crossing to Miyajima. There are two ferry companies, only one of which you can travel on if you were stupid enough to buy that travel card! If you stand outside the main cabin, towards the front right of the boat, you'll be able to get the best pitcures of the Tori Gate and Itsukushima Shrine as you approach. 

It was quite a gloomy day when I went, but the mist shrouding the top of the mountain (called Mt Misen) made it seem even more mystical and special.

I met my first deer straight after coming out of the ferry terminal. It was just standing there, not minding all the people streaming past it. They're very docile (I've seen toddlers hanging onto their tails and they don't so much as blink) although, if they smell food they become blood-thirsty predators. 

Look at them rip that cabbage to pieces. Sheer brutality

You can see the blood-lust in their eyes...

Miyajima is most famous for Itsukushima Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage site (and one of Japan's 'Must See Sites'), which is supported by wooden columns over the beach. This means, if you plan you trip well, you'll be able to see it at its most beautiful, at high tide. Although, if you spend a long time on the island, you'll be able to walk out to the Tori gate at low tide. 

Low tide at Itsukushima Shrine

Inside the shrine

I'm not sure what these are, but people would pick them up with two hands and shake them around their heads. One of the many pray-aiding instruments the Japanese use at shrines perhaps?  

I spotted another pagoda! I decided to go home and research how to get to this one, before trying to do it myself (and accidentally finding myself at the top of another mountain again...)

Another pagoda! Bigger, but I still think the smaller one is prettier. 

A weeping cherry blossom tree

 There's also a shopping street, filled with perfect omiyage and the world's largest rice paddle. 

Yes, you read that correctly. The world's largest rice paddle. "Why?!" I hear you cry? Miyajima is famous for rice paddles/scoops. And the Japanese have one or two eccentricities (it's best to just smile and go along with it...)

At 7.7 metres long, 2.7 metres thick and weighing in at 2.5 tonnes, it's not very practical. You'd need one hell of a rice cooker to put this to use. It was made to commemorate Itsukushima Shrine being made a UNESCO site.

For anyone coming to Hiroshima, Miyajima is a must see! I've already been there about 4 times... I'm already planning when I next have time to go again! I love Miyajima! 

Three Months Have Passed...

So it's been almost three months since my last blogpost. I've been busy... Usually, by the time I get back home and have made dinner (there have been no exploding egg repeats thankfully) I'm too tired to blog. I usually watch youtube videos of cats in flowerpots...

So, to save time (and try and catch up on all the stuff I've been doing here) I'm going to condense the last few months into several smaller posts.

So, without much further ado, her comes the promised post about how to accidentally climb a mountain!


Just on the outskirts of Hiroshima City lies a small town called Mitaki. Reachable from JR Hiroshima in about 15-ish minutes, it's incredible easy and cheap to get to. As I had nothing to do one weekend, I decided I would brave the trip there on my own.

From Mitaki Station, I climbed up through the small town, walking through winding streets, past a temple and a little stream sheltered by overhanging trees, to Mitaki-dera.

Just over the river lies Hiroshima

A temple I found on the walk up to Mitaki-dera

The temple's garden

Mitaki-dera, nestled in the many mountains surrounding Hiroshima, is a temple and pagoda, set in a tranquil, wooded area with waterfalls, pools and moss-covered statues.

I had read about this place on the internet, and really wanted to see the pagoda. So I walked around until I found a path leading up some steep steps which had a sign post with the kanji for Mitaki (三滝) on it.

The paths was very steep and tiring, leading through bamboo forests and opening up into occasional glades where the bamboo, dappled in shadow, looked almost blue. The sounds of the city had disappeared, and the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze and birdsong gave it an almost ethereal atmosphere.

Bamboo glade!

As I climbed higher and higher, I became increasingly scepticle as to whether or not I would ever find the pagoda, but after climbing up over a ridge, all thoughts of the pagoda vanished from my mind.

I had accidentally climbed Mt. Mitaki...

After descending from the mountain, at the entrance to Mitaki-Dera, I saw the red-laquer of the pagoda peeking through the foliage.

When I got back to Hiroshima station, there was a food market and some sort of Japanese play taking place.

Japan's ageing population...

I'm very glad I didn't see the pagoda on that day, because I might have never climbed the mountain, something I've done several times since then.

I climbed once in the rain, and the whole place was so quite. I sat in the bamboo glade, eating lunch and listening to bird song. Which was then rudely interrupted by the cursing of an old man climbing through the bamboo high on the steep banks surrounding the glade. He kept stopping and digging, then moving on. He made his way right around the glade and then disappeared over the brow on the hill. I asked one of my friends about this, and they suggested he may have been looking for something called Take-no-ko (young bamboo shoots) which where in season at the time and are delicious.

The next day, I went to a tea ceremony in the Shukkeien Gardens, close to Hiroshima castle, with Yoshimura-san, one of the workers at the human resources department in the hospital.

It costs about ￥300 to enter the gardens, but it's definitely worth it. Even though you can still see tall buildings surrounding it, the buzz of the city seems to die away once you enter.

There were lots of women walking around in kimonos, all of them helping out in serving the tea, and as we approached a low building with paper screens, our tickets were checked and we were allowed in (after taking off our shoes of course!) where we all took our places on the tatami mat floors.

Traditionally, people sit in a position called seiza (kneeling so you are resting on the backs of your legs). After about 5 minutes, I couldn't feel my legs. After another five minutes all sensation returned to them in the form of searing pain that felt like fire was running through my veins. So I gave up and sat cross-legged. Even Yoshimura-san couldn't sit like that for much longer.

Kimono-clad women floated through the room, giving out a cup of tea and a little plate with a Japanese sweet on it before giving a deep bow (which everyone reciprocated). Depending on the variety of tea, you eat and drink in a specific order. I thought this would be easy to follow, since I went with a Japanese person. But as the tea was being given out, she confessed she had never been to one before and had no idea what was going on. So we had to follow other people's lead.

We had three different types of tea, all of which were delicious! Even the tea-ceremony junkies (old women who came as guests but dressed in kimonos - it's quite surprising how many people wear kimonos here) were whispering 'oishiii!' (delicious) to each other in delight.

At the end of the ceremony, people gather around small enclaves in the walls, which house calligraphy or flower displays, to admire them. The paper screens are also opened so that you can have a view of the garden (and the surprised looks of people suddenly realising there's about 20 people staring out at them).

Then, we went to a tea ceremony outside, where we drank a strange tea that tasted salty and had a flower floating in it. There were more sweets here...

A delicate petal flavour on the left, and azuki beans on the right. Om nom nom

Slightly salty tea with a flower in it

Now I have to admit I'm not as cultured as I'm making out; swilling delicate teas and nibbling flowers. When I saw the sweets I knew this was the ceremony for me. You're supposed to use the sweets to balance out the bitterness of the tea, but I preferred to finish the tea quickly so I could enjoy the amazing sweets...

I've developed a burning passion for azuki beans. They're the basis of many traditional sweets, and I'm tempted to buy a bag on them every time I go to the supermarket.

Afterwards, we went to Hiroshima castle. Like most of the city, it was destroyed in the bombings, so this is actually a replica built in 1958 with a modern interior housing a museum. Sadly, many of the castles in Japan were destroyed during the war, so I've yet to actually go to an original one.

There's a collection of armor and swords, along with a detailed account of how Hiroshima was founded and the castle built.

A model of Hiroshima ages ago (I can't remember when, or which era...)