Itsukushima Shrine

Overview:

Sat on the Island of the Gods, the Itsukushi­ma Shrine is home not just to one of the worlds most incred­i­ble and beau­ti­ful Shin­to shrines, but the icon­ic and mys­ti­cal ‘float­ing’ Torii Gate – that stands not just a place of ancient spir­i­tu­al cer­e­monies but as a stun­ning and spir­i­tu­al­ly awe-inspir­ing won­der of the world.

Believed to have been con­struct­ed in 590CE, the Itsukushi­ma Shrine sits on the majes­tic island of Miya­ji­ma, which was once con­sid­ered the home of the Gods due to a belief that the island con­trolled the rise and fall of the tides, with the Itsukushi­ma shrine – which fea­tures mul­ti­ple shrines, prayer halls, wor­ship rooms and stages, all con­struct­ed in tra­di­tion­al Shin­to archi­tec­ture and con­nect­ed by tra­di­tion­al cor­ri­dors — being spe­cial­ly con­struct­ed to ‘float’ on water so as to not only pay homage to the Gods, but so as not to dis­rupt them should the Shrine fall.

The Torii Gate itself sit’s just out­side the Main Shrine and rep­re­sents a pas­sage between the spir­i­tu­al and human world, with explor­ers encour­aged to fol­low the bow­ing and clap­ping rou­tine when pass­ing through the Gate – which is best viewed both at High tide for the float­ing effect, low tide to walk up to it and at night time, when the Gate and Shrine are both illu­mi­nat­ed to cre­ate a stun­ning effect – which com­bined with the lush forests, moun­tain peaks and free roam­ing deer that occu­py the Miya­ji­ma island com­bine to make the Itsukushi­ma Shrine a tru­ly unique and spir­i­tu­al won­der of the world.

Where:

The Torii Gate and the Itsukushi­ma Shrine sit on the incred­i­bly beau­ti­ful island of Miya­ji­ma, which is a short boat ride away from Hiroshi­ma – a city in the south of Japan and eari­ly reached by Bul­let Train from Tokyo.

Getting there:

Hav­ing made your way to Hiroshi­ma – you’re going to have to head to the pier and the fer­ry sta­tion to get to the island of Miya­ji­ma – which is achiev­able by tak­ing the Sanyo Line from Hiroshi­ma sta­tion to Miya­jimaguchi Sta­tion and then jump­ing on a boat at the Pier – or by tak­ing a taxi from any­where in Hiroshi­ma to Hiroshi­ma Pier.

Once at the pier board the boat toward Miya­ji­ma Pier which should take 10 min­utes and upon arrival at the pier it’s a 10 minute walk across the island to the entrance to the Itsukushi­ma Shrine – which is unmiss­able from the Miya­ji­ma Pier.

Best time to Visit:

We’d rec­om­mend vis­it­ing in Autumn if pos­si­ble, when you’ll get to expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of the Maple trees of Momi­ji­dani Park shed­ding their leaves and chang­ing colour – also be sure to time your vis­it for both high and low tide if pos­si­ble so you can expe­ri­ence both the float­ing effect of the gate at high tide and expe­ri­ence walk­ing up to the gate at low tide to exam­ine it up close – we’d also strong­ly rec­om­mend stick­ing around for the after sun­set illu­mi­na­tion of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine, which is a tru­ly stun­ning way to observe this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.

Explore:

While the float­ing Torii Gate right­ly hogs the atten­tion of the sights on the Miya­ji­ma Island, there is a lot more to see, dis­cov­er and under­stand as you vis­it the Itsukushi­ma Shrine – with the shrine com­plex con­sist­ing of spir­i­tu­al prayer halls, stun­ning path­ways and incred­i­ble archi­tec­ture – all of which if con­nect­ed by unique Shin­to board­walks and pil­lars which is in unique har­mo­ny with the sur­round­ing nature, and appears to float dur­ing high tide – all of which com­bines to cre­ate the unique won­der that is the Itsukushi­ma Shrine.

The below are our top sights to vis­it when explor­ing this incred­i­ble won­der of the world:

East corridor

Hav­ing hopped off the fer­ry, and paid your Yen to enter the Shrine and said hel­lo to the islands deer inhab­i­tants, the first stop will like­ly be the start of the East Cor­ri­dor – a Nation­al Treau­re in Japan for more than 60 years and which is the cor­ri­dor that extends from the entrance across the halls and prayers of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine all the way to the main shrine.

This cor­ri­dor, which is con­struct­ed in stun­ning typ­i­cal Shin­to archi­tec­ture has been spe­cial­ly designed to com­pen­sate for the high tide buoy­an­cy of the shrine and to alle­vi­ate flood­ing in the event of too much rain, as you jour­ney along this incred­i­ble cor­ri­dor and the tra­di­tion­al flo­ord­boards, you’ll being to expe­ri­ence the atmos­phere and style of the com­plex as a whole as you head into your first shrine called Mar­o­do.

Marodo Shrine

As you fork off from the east cor­ri­dor the first shrine you’ll come to is the Mar­o­do shrine, a shrine ded­i­cat­ed to five male gods (Amenooshi­homi­mi-no-miko­to, Ikit­suhikone-no-miko­to, Ameno­ho­hi-no-miko­to, Amat­suhikone-no-miko­to and Kumanokusubi-no-miko­to) – with the Mar­o­do shrine being the biggest of the four main shrines with­in the com­plex, and con­tain­ing a unique puri­fy­ing hall, where vis­i­tors are encour­aged to take a moment to reflect on them­selves and puri­fy their mind and soul – with the shrine hav­ing an open hall fac­ing the sea, allow­ing vis­i­tors to con­nect and observe the beau­ty of the sea.

Inside the shrine you’ll also see the stun­ning Shin­to archi­tec­ture and carv­ings of the tem­ple, which con­tin­ue as you jour­ney out of the shrine into the famous Cor­ri­dor lanterns – a series of cor­ri­dors where lanterns used to hang to guide Shinto’s across the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and into the Main Shrine of the com­plex.

The Main Shrine

Giv­en it’s name, you’ll find it no sur­prise that the Main Shrine is the biggest and most impres­sive of the Shrine’s at the Itsukushi­ma Shrine com­plex – with the shrine fea­tur­ing incred­i­ble Shin­to archi­tec­ture, a wor­ship hall and a purifi­ca­tion hall – all sat against the stun­ning and serene nat­ur­al back­drop of the Miya­ji­ma island – where the land meets the sea – with the Main

Shrine ded­i­cat­ed to three female gods (Ichik­ishi­ma-hime-no-miko­to, Tagori-hime-no-miko­to and Tag­it­su-hime-no-miko­to) whose influ­ence is felt in the beau­ty of the shrine.

Clock­ing in at 271 Square metres, the main shrine is also one of the biggest in the entire coun­try of Japan – and is believed to date back to the 1st cen­tu­ry, with the styles of the Nara peri­od seen in it’s cross­beams, roof and tra­di­tion­al floor – with their also being a notable lack of doors, which adds not only to the spir­i­tu­al envi­ron­ment but allows more space for the purifi­ca­tion hall – which was used for fes­ti­vals – and the wor­ship hall to be explored, where Shin­to priests would gath­er for cer­e­monies, with the main hall itself being an incred­i­ble and won­der­ful tem­ple that encap­su­lates the beau­ty of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine.

Taka-Butai (High Stage) 

Exit­ing the main Shrine – you’ll come to two stages, first­ly the High stage where access is depen­dent on tides and which was used to per­form and host Dances and the Hira-butai (Open Air Stage) which is found direct­ly in front of the Main tem­ple and was used to hold impor­tant cer­e­monies – which is a com­plete­ly open air stage, con­struct­ed out of wood and stones, with access again being weath­er depen­dent, we’d rec­om­mend mak­ing some time for the open air stage, not just as a place to reflect but also as it offer stun­ning views of the out­side of the main tem­ple and the Torii Gate in the dis­tance.

The Torii gate

As you jour­ney through the com­plex and past the main Shrine – you’ll come to the undoubt­ed high­light of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine com­plex – the famous float­ing Torii Gate. The Torii gate is found 200 metres away from the Main Shrine (and view­able from the main shrine) and has been rebuilt on a eight occa­sions, with the cur­rent gate believed to date back to 1875 and stands at 16 metres tall – as a unique and impres­sive sym­bol of the beau­ty of Shin­to and Japan.

As you approach the gate you’ll notice not just the stun­ning archi­tec­tur­al crafts­man­ship that cre­at­ed it, with the unique pat­terns and carv­ings along the trunks of the 700 year old trees that were spe­cial­ly sourced and make up the struc­ture of the gate. Along­side tak­ing in the beau­ty of the gate, you’ll also see that the six pil­lars that make up the gate are not embed­ded with­in the sea but use the stones and mud of the sea floor along with their own weight to main­tain the gate’s bal­ance, mak­ing it a true archi­tec­tur­al feat — and which gives it the unique float­ing appear­ance at high tide and which makes the Torii gate a free stand­ing gate.

Con­sid­ered to rep­re­sent the link between humans and the spir­it world, we’d rec­om­mend vis­it­ing the gate once at low tide, when you can walk up to it and par­take in the tra­di­tion­al bow and clap cer­e­mo­ny that each pil­grim is asked to observe when pass­ing through the gate and also at high tide, when you can jour­ney up to the gate in a boat to wit­ness it’s unique float­ing appear­ance and tru­ly observe this incred­i­ble won­der of the world and grab some incred­i­ble pho­tos.

Mirror Pond

Along­side the stun­ning Torii Gate at the Itsukushi­ma Shrine com­plex, for those who stay on Miya­ji­ma island for a full day, you’ll notice that the scenery around the gate changes as the tide rolls in and out – notably cre­at­ing a unique effect called the mir­ror ponds – which are three round ponds found around the Torii Gate at low tide, and which accord­ing to leg­end rep­re­sent­ed the gods being please with the Shrine – and also served as a fire safe­ty mea­sure, for those that jour­ney into the Itsukushi­ma Shrine muse­um, you’ll hear and get to expe­ri­ence the poems and haikku’s writ­ten about the mir­ror ponds – and they are unques­tion­ably well worth viewieng as they add fur­ther spi­tiual­i­ty to the mag­nif­i­cence of the Torii Gate.

The Itsukushima Shrine illumination

For those who want to tru­ly expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and the Torii Gate, along­side stay­ing for the famous sun­set pho­to shot, it’s high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to allow a lit­tle time in the evening to view the incred­i­ble illu­mi­na­tions of the tem­ple com­plex after dark – when the entire the entire com­plex is lit up, recre­at­ing an old age tra­di­tion where can­dles would light the tem­ple, and which cre­ates not just a stun­ning sight with the gate vis­i­ble in the dark and which you can observe from the pier of the tem­ple or on a boat tour, but with the moon­light and the tem­ple reflect­ing on the lake itself, a life­long mem­o­ry and unique expe­ri­ence of this incred­i­ble won­der.

Five-storied Pagoda

Out­side the The Itsukushi­ma Shrine com­plex, there are also three sites to check out on Miya­ji­ma island that we’d rec­om­mend that will add to your over­all expe­ri­ence when see­ing the won­der. The first is the fabled five-sto­ried Pago­da — a Bud­dhist shrine con­struct­ed in the 15th cen­tu­ry and which you can enter and walk around inside, with the shrine unusu­al­ly con­struct­ed in a Japan­ese style.

Con­struct­ed to appease the gods of med­i­cine, the shrine fea­tures stun­ning wood­en pil­lars and inter­nal walls, and coat­ed in red paint stands out not just as a stun­ning tem­ple but as a unique and beau­ti­ful archi­tec­tur­al site that is well worth a vis­it on Miya­ji­ma island.

Mt. Misen

Rep­re­sent­ing the unique blend and pris­tine nature on the island, Mt Mis­en is the islands tallest moun­tain and is con­sid­ered a sacred moun­tain that is wor­shipped in the Shin­to faith since the temple’s con­struc­tion. Along­side this, Mt Mis­en is also a great place to take a stroll, with its sum­mit offer­ing stun­ning views of the won­der of the world that is the Torii gate and The Itsukushi­ma Shrine from above.

Up the moun­tain you’ll also find an incred­i­ble for­est of trees, and some excep­tion­al walk­ing that allows you to explore the bits of the island off the beat­en track – or for those who don’t fan­cy the trek up there’s a small cable car that will take you to the sum­mit and the view­ing plat­form where you can kick back and soak up the incred­i­ble views of the won­der of the world that lies beneath you.

Momijidani Park & Deer

Final­ly we’d real­ly rec­om­mend explor­ing the Momi­ji­dani Park that lies in the heart of the island, not just for the hun­dreds of maple tree that trans­form in Autumn for a stun­ning show, but also for the many free deer that roam the park – and who are incred­i­bly tame and approach­able, unless you have Food on you ! in which case you can expect to have them accom­pa­ny you on your time on the island.

How long to stay:

While it’s pos­si­ble to see the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and the Torii Gate in a cou­ple of hours – we’d rec­om­mend doing it over the course of a long day trip, to allow you to ful­ly explore the stun­ning tem­ple com­plex and expe­ri­ence the Torii Gate both at low and high tide and in the day and evening time to tru­ly take in and appre­ci­ate this unique won­der of the world.

Top Tip:

Along­side keep­ing your food away from the Deers ! – It’s strong­ly rec­om­mend to make sure you see the Torii Gate at high tide, so you can ful­ly expe­ri­ence the float­ing gate effect and grab the icon­ic pho­tos and explore the gate at low tide – when you can walk up to the Gate and expe­ri­ence it from close-up – as well as mak­ing time in the evening the view the illu­mi­na­tion of the gate as it is stun­ning­ly lit up and sparkles against both the reflec­tion of the lake and the glow of the moon­light.

Cost:

From Hiroshi­ma expect to pay 180 yen one way from the main­land to the par­adise of Miya­ji­ma island, and then fol­low­ing the brisk 10 minute walk from the pier to the Itsukushi­ma Shrine you can expect to pay either 300 yen (3 USD) for access to the Shrine or 500 yen (5 USD) for access to the Shine and the Trea­sure Hall – with a vis­it to both rec­om­mend­ed to tru­ly expe­ri­ence this unique won­der of the world.

Fun Fact:

Along­side being the site of the unique won­der of the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and the stun­ning float­ing Torii Gate, you’ll also find that Miya­ji­ma Island is home to anoth­er spe­cial fea­ture – herds of tame and approach­able Deer, that may pester you for food on occa­sion – with the Deer hold­ing a spe­cial place in Japan­ese Shin­to reli­gion and believed to be re-incar­nat­ed Gods.

You’ll also find that Miya­ji­ma is home to anoth­er delight, the famous Momi­ji Man­jyu – one for those with a sweet tooth the Man­jyu is a fresh­ly made mul­ti-flavoured sug­ary treat, that makes for a deli­cious and well-earned snack after sub­mit­ting Mt. Mis­en – just be sure not to give any to the deers !

Best photo spot:

Cap­tur­ing the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and in piac­u­lar the float­ing Torii Gate against the back­drop of sun­set in high tide – with the Float­ing Gate effect in full flow — is the tru­ly Icon­ic Pho­to of the won­der that is the Itsukushi­ma Shrine and is view­able from both the waters edge of the island or from the main shrine itself. For those that want to grab an extra scenic pho­to of the whole of Miya­ji­ma – the trek up Mt. Mis­en accom­pa­nied by the beau­ti­ful Deer is anoth­er top place to grab a shot of this won­der.