Miyajama Island

November 18, 2025, from the itinerary: Visit Miyajama Island.

Today started with an elaborate multi-course breakfast.  As I was to find out, eel was featured on the menus of this ryokan because they also own an eel restaurant near the ferry station.  I was surprised how good eel is when properly grilled .

Today Hiro was my guide again and she met me at the ryokan at 9.  The weather today was a bit cold- about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday but perfect for walking.

It was a 10 minute ferry ride to the island and the JR ferry took us by the famous Torii gate from the water side- this, and being able to use my Jr pass, were two advantages to using this ferry vs their competitor.

After landing Hiro suggested we go right to the ropeway.   Along the way we saw the Mormon Temple which Hiro thought was a blight against the scenery. We made a short stop at the tori observation area where we saw several deer. Some had obviously been fed by the local photographers, even though that is not permitted.

I accepted her suggestion to go to the ropeway first, since she said the lines got very long if we were to do the other sightseeing first.  We didn’t have long to wait and enjoyed a 10 minute cable car ride up to the first transfer site and then a 4 minute onward journey to the first “observatory”.  She pointed out the second observatory (observation area) at the top of the Mount Misen, about another 300 feet up, was not part of the tour.  I assured her it was ok and I wouldn’t walk up - had I been alone I would have.

She was able to show me where the Japanese had their naval/air base nearby and where the US marines currently have a base.  She told me her father had been studying accounting on Miyajima during WW2 and saw the allies come in to attack the air base.

When we came down, the line to go up was horrendous - well over an hour wait.

From there we admired the beautiful fall colors and a wedding.

Then we walked over to the Daishon Temple that had a temple where you could worship ogres. 

They also had an area, in a “cave” where those who could not make the pilgrimage to the 80 area shrines (due to illness or disability) could walk through this room that contained the Buddha and wood from the shrine and this would be considered as making the pilgrimage.  This was one of the few temples that did not take any payment when visiting.

There was a tunnel I could walk through be reborn after standing in Buddhas footprints. 

It was time for lunch and we ate at a vegetarian restaurant on temple grounds. Matcha tea and some of the best ramen I've tasted.

From there we went back down to the waterfront area and the shrine of 10000 tatami mats, AKA Hokaku Shrine.  This temple was never finished, but is quite old and is near the beautiful 5-storied pagoda that was, unfortunately, under scaffold being repaired.

Finally we made it back to see the Isukushima Shrine, one of the main attractions.  A beautiful shrine complex set on top of the bay floor sand.  It is not affixed, other than by standing on top of a stone top that has spikes going down into the sand.  The floor boards of the shrine are covered by matching boards as a form of protection and to allow water to rise up in case of flood so the entire structure doesn’t float away.

At this time the tide was out and we were able to actually walk over to the stand just by the Torii gate which looked even more spectacular when standing next to it.  The wood used to build the gate is no longer available in such mature tree size, so the government is forced to patch it until the replacement trees grow large enough - only another 300 years.

I had to buy some of the local sweets along the shopping street on the way back to the ferry - these are a different type of mochi in the shape of a maple leave filled with bean paste.

I said good-bye to Hiro at the shuttle bus stop and returned to the hotel in time to feed the scary koi.

And then take another bath in the outside onsen

Before having another beer and saki tasting and multi-course dinner in my room.  Again it featured a lot of grilled eel.