worldstallestpygmy: Temples

Showing posts with label Temples. Show all posts

Miyajima Island

A short 30 minute high speed boat ride from Hiroshima is Miyajima Island. Known mainly for its giant “floating” tori the island has held special religious significance since the mid-8thcentury. Deer wonder freely around the island and help themselves to any spare food that may not be secured. Itsukushima shrine built on stilts in front of the tori (apparently the shrine was built on stilts over the water so that “commoners” could visit theshrine without leaving foot prints on the island), and you can climb Mt. Misen (530m) for views back over towards Hiroshima (hiking up the last 1.5 kilometres of stairs when its 35 degrees Celsius and 80 precent humidity can be testing) but the climb through the forest and the view makes it all worthwhile.

4:13 PM | Category: Living in Japan, Out and about, outdoors, Temples | 0 comments

Hiroshima

Four hours from Tokyo on the Nozomi super express Shinkasen and you arrive in Hiroshima. What can be said about Hiroshima? The A-bomb dome, children’s monument and flame of peace all stand as sombre reminders of the almost 140,000 who died as a result ofthe atomic bombing in August 1945. The city also has the iconic castle and several spectacular gardens including the Shukkei garden.

4:06 PM | Category: Living in Japan, Out and about, Temples | 0 comments

Kyoto

A quick 2 hour trip on the Shinkansen took us to Kyoto. Kyoto was once Japan's capital and the emperor’s residence between 794 and 1868.

Just up the street I decided I needed a coffee and standing in a Starbucks I turned around and saw this amazing temple just sitting behind a normal street facade.

Gion is apparently Kyoto most famous geisha district (we only saw one “true” geisha in the back of a show as he was running to the theatre for the show – originally geisha were men). Gion is filled with shops, restaurants and teahouses. The area contains is also famous for it traditional wooden merchant houses.

The last thing you'd expect in Kyoto

Fushimi Inari Shrine (1000 torii) is an important Shinto shrine to the god or rice Inari (as the taxi driver took great pains to explain). It’s famous for its thousands of vermilion tori gates which are over a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 m.