Travel : Beautiful Miyajima Island

At first glance, Miyajima Island, located about an hour outside of Hiroshima, appears to be a bit of a tourist trap. Every guidebook the Raincity Software Engineer and I read while planning our third trip to Japan seemed to mention this beautiful island, which has been named one of the three most scenic places in Japan (the Japanese adore ranking places, though, so take that with a wee grain of salt). We weren’t entirely sure if we wanted to bother visiting Miyajima, since we had already seen enough shrines and temples in our previous trips to Japan to last a life time, and we had already found ourselves in more than enough packed tourist spots, smooshed between hoards of selfie stick-toting tour groups.

Still, the island did have great reviews….and we did have two nights booked in Hiroshima, and our JR pass did cover the cost of the short ferry to the island, and we had found industrial Hiroshima to be a little underwhelming….

I can now safely say that Miyajima is one of those rare tourist hot spots that more than deserves its reputation. Don’t let my terrible cell phone pictures fool you. Miyajima is beautiful.

 

The island was certainly humming when we visited, and there were tour groups a plenty, following their flag-toting leaders like rows of ducks. It wasn’t anywhere near as crowded as we had feared, though, and we were able to move about and see the sights with comfort and ease. We were traveling in November, which is not a particularly popular month for tourism, so I can’t speak to what the island might be like in the spring or summer, but it was a very pleasant experience.

Miyajima is very easy to get to if you’re based in Hiroshima – we simply took the JR Sanyo Line train from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi Station, which took about half an hour. We then took the JR ferry to the island, which was very scenic and only took about 10 minutes. Everything was covered by our JR Pass – yet another reason to invest in this invaluable pass. There are in fact two rival ferries that service the island, but only one is covered by a JR Pass.

Miyajima’s most famous attraction is its giant red gate, which truly is a sight to behold. At low tide you can actually walk out along the beach to the gate, which I definitely recommend, even if it does mean getting your toes a bit wet. Part of the Shinto Itsukushima Shrine, the giant red torii gate is world famous, and when the tide is high it actually appears to be floating in the water. The popularity of the shrine gave the island its name – Miyajima literally means “shrine island”. The view from the shrine back to the mainland is also quite beautiful, especially on a clear day (which we didn’t have…but at least the rain held out!).

Another of the island’s attractions is the Omoto Forest, which was filled with beautiful autumn colours when we visited, and which offers lovely walking and hiking trails, and of course, plenty of deer. So many deer! Few tourists seemed interested in walking this far from the main tourist attractions, which meant we largely had the park to ourselves, and were able to wander and admire the deer from a safe and respectful distance.

Another site worth visiting is the Daisho-In temple, nestled at the base of Mount Misen, which is an important temple for Shingon Buddhism. You can easily walk to the temple from the ferry terminal in about 15 minutes, but there were few tourists there when we visited, and we practically had the grounds to ourselves. It was very peaceful, and offered beautiful scenic views to explore and experience. There are also hiking trails leading from the temple to the top of Mount Misen, the highest point on the island.

Miyajima is a great place to do some souvenir shopping, and you can find many fascinating locally-made items. The Omotesando shopping street, which was founded during the Edo period, is filled with souvenir shops selling a variety of items to suit every budget and style, from the kitchy to the classic. According to local lore, the traditional Japanese rice paddle that is used by households across the country to serve their rice originated on the island, and you can find shops selling locally-made shamoji of all different sizes and varieties.

The island is famous for its oysters, too, and visitors can chow down on reasonably priced oysters both raw and grilled. If shellfish isn’t to your liking, you can find maple leaf-shaped cookies called Momiji Manjyu that are famous throughout Japan, and which are typically filled with red bean paste, chocolate, custard, even ice cream! This was definitely the Raincity Software Engineer’s favourite souvenir, though none of the momiji manjyu we bought actually made it off the island….

Miyajima is a beautiful place to visit, and offers both natural and man-made vistas that are sure to inspire. It’s very easy to get to from Hiroshima, and makes a delightful day trip. If you’re planning a trip to Japan, definitely consider adding Miyajima to your itinerary – you won’t regret it!