07 May 2024

Visiting the iconic torii gate of Miyajima Island

Our day got off to an exciting start with a Zodiac cruise to Miyajima Island – meaning Shrine Island. We were there to visit Itsukushima Shrine and its famous ‘floating’ torii gate. We landed at high tide which offered stunning reflections of the gate and with the sea flowing under the shrine itself. The shrine was our first destination, but there was much more to see. We walked up the hill to the pavilions of the Daisho-in Temple and enjoyed expansive views of the island. The bell rang regularly over the hillside walk filled with 500 small Buddhas with red caps, who look after small children who die too young to know the way to the afterlife.

The town was charming with plenty of fantastic retail and food options with oysters proving quite popular. We explored this quaint island town alongside the local deer population.

We were back on board for lunch as Heritage Adventurer made the short transit to the port of Hiroshima. From there, the coaches took us to the Peace Park. This area had been established to commemorate the dropping of the atomic bomb at 8:15 am on August 6, 1945. 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. The museum gives a stark depiction of those horrors and the suffering of the victims. The surrounding park contains the cenotaph, the eternal flame, 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. Despite the sombre subject, the park and city’s message of peace shines through.

It turned out that the hotel team had done a bit of shopping at Miyajima, and shortly after re-boarding we were called to the pool deck for oysters and sake. The oysters had been purchased straight off the oyster boat and hand-shucked by Head Chef Gunther. If you have acquired a taste for raw oysters, then you know that they were delicious!

Images © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions