06 Jun 2024

Experiencing the floating gate of Miyajima

It was a beautiful morning as Heritage Adventurer arrived near the island of Miyajima - literally ‘Shrine Island’ - and the Zodiacs were soon lowered for our adventure to begin. Our first destination was Itsukushima Shrine and its famous ‘floating’ torii gate. We were fortunate to be there while a wedding party was taking photographs - the bride’s and mother’s kimonos were beautiful.

Up the hill, we climbed to the many pavilions of the Daisho-in temple. The bell rang regularly over the hillside walk of 500 small Buddhas with red caps. They look after small children who die too young to know the way to the afterlife.

The town was charming, with plenty of retail and food options and the coffee ice cream proved quite popular. Roaming the streets alongside us was the adorable resident deer population. 

Back on board Heritage Adventurer, we enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch on the Aft Deck in the sunshine. It turned out that the hotel team had done a bit of shopping at the oyster farms that we passed on the Zodiacs, so oysters and sake were a tasty and popular appetizer.
Our afternoon visit to the Hiroshima Peace Museum and Peace Park was in the company of large groups of school children. The museum gives a stark depiction of the horrors and suffering of the victims of the nuclear bomb that exploded over the city on the morning of August 6, 1945.

The Peace Park has been set aside to commemorate the bombing and the result. The people of Hiroshima have made it their mission to ensure that the world does not forget the horrors of nuclear war and to quest for world peace. It contains the cenotaph, the flame of peace, the A-bomb Dome, and the monument to Sadako Sasaki – the young girl whose death started the tradition of delivering origami paper cranes to the city as a peace offering. We placed our offering of cranes among the many at the Children’s Memorial. Despite the sombre subject, the park and city’s message of peace shines through.

Our farewell from this lovely city of broad boulevards and many parks was an energetic duo of drums and keyboards, who put on a spectacular show!

Images © E Bell, Heritage Expeditions