宮島 Miyajima (The Island of Miya), 30/04/2012

Straw barrells of sake, Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima

During the Golden Week (ゴールデン・ウィーク, gouruden uiiku - a series of consecutive holidays lasting from the end of April till mid-May) I joined my mostly Italian circle of friends (plus one German and one Peruvian) on the trip to Hiroshima. Having probably one and only chance in the world to actually go and see the famous picturesque floating torii of Itsukushima Shrine, the shrine build directly on the sandy beach of Miyajima, how disappointed were we to discover that: a/ the torii itself currently undergoes some maintenace, and is planned to stay covered... till mid-June; b/ the weather couldn't have been more ugly, unwelcoming and picture-spoiling than that very day, as we were all well soaked by the freezing streaks of continuous rain, and c/ there were maintenance teams all over the place to spoil the experience even more, should it even be possible. At some point even the flash of a neon-coloured tractor failed to really surprise me. To make matters worse, the afternoon tide didn't want to rise high enough to even partially make up for the disappointment, and actually make the 'floating' buildings float! We left Miyajima absolutely soaked, feeling cheated. 

That makes one place in Japan that probably neither of us would ever miss!

Awaiting a ferry from Miyajima-guchi.

The ferry itself. There are two operating companies, both with ferries leaving every 7-10 minutes.

Famous floating torii... barely visible through the scaffolding.

Maybe changing the angle of the camera would make the scaffolding less visible...?

Lovely tame deer munching on the pine needles in the square nearby the ferry quay.

Soggy Miyajima shore... Looking at the crowds, I wonder how the area looks like when it's actually sunny...

Miyajima torii... still unflatteringly covered and less than photogenic.

Deers bothering the crowds for snacks. They were surprisingly brazen and smart at the same time, heading for the most obvious locations - bags and pockets.

Before the tide - people 'enjoying' the torii view from the beach level... or maybe just crossing?

The true size of the torii... On the picture - my two friends who decided they were already wet enough to try to walk along the underwater sand passage leading to the gate.

Steaming mountain after the first minutes of rainfall.

The pagoda of the nearby buddhist temple; viewed through the buildings of Itsukushima Shrine.

The iteriors of Itsukushima shrine. When the tide rises, the water fills the prepared areas creating ponds. Reminded me of the ponds one was digging on the seaside with their plastic shovels, waiting for the water to fill them.

Floating buildings of Itsukushima Shrine... plus the workers.

Barrells of sake, Itsukushima Shrine.

A stage for special Noh theatre performances.

And THAT'S how the main attraction of Miyajima was supposed to look like...

image source

Interested in torii? Check this out! I think it's one of the most informative articles on the subject.

比叡山延暦寺 - Mt. Hiei and Enryakuji Temple. 20/03/2011

Kyoto from above, one of the hills leading to Mt. Hiei and Enryakuji, 20/03/2012

Couple of days ago I had an amazing opportunity to form a hiking team with few international students to join our lovely dorm manager (whom we nick-named ninja for his amazing personality and ability to achieve/ obtain/ fix the impossible) on a tiring but nevertheless brilliant hiking in Mt. Hiei to see Enryakuji temple, one of the most important temples in Japanese buddhism, and itself a Unesco National Heritage Site. The day was lovely, and we all had a great time (and delayed-onset muscle soreness, that's for sure, but it was certainly worth it! :-) 

Setting off through the giant toori gate marking the local shrine grounds.

We climbed a very steep ravine slope of Kirara-zaka, so very quickly the bird-eye views of Kyoto started to emerge.

Our steep path up! In the photo - F, my great Italian friend. She's gonna kill me for this one, but I will risk the statement that it's one hell of an energetic beast in her natural habitat. :-)

Sacred statues scattered around the woods. Some of them so weathered you can't see the details anymore.

Beautiful views on the way.

Yup, it really is snow up there!

That little patch between the hills is one of the tiny Kyoto nearby cities. Note the sky - doesn't it look like Magritte?

Tiny bit of Kyoto... and still unidentified white chapel-like building on the slope over there... Ninja-san suggested it might be a part of a film studio, Hmmm...

Approaching Enryakuji... more and more sacred statues.

The carving presenting Pure Land Buddhism Amida Triad - Amida Buddha in the middle, Kannon Bosatsu (representing compassion) on the right and Seishin (representing wisdom) on the left; more valuable information on this great site

Japanese cypresses (hinoki), planted by the sacred area below. They were MASSIVE!

Steep stairs leading to the Buddha Hall. See that person in red jacket not using the stairs? Guess who can that be, if not a real ninja!

Bad fortune omikuji tied up to the tree to ward off the bad luck.

The Great Buddha Hall. It was really beautiful and fragrant inside, I wish I could have taken a snap or two (unfortunatelly, not only forbidden, but there was also a very strict-looking Japanese granny sitting there, keeping an eye on things, I wouldn't stand a chance)

A bell. For a humble donation you can bang it yourself for good luck!And that's of course, what I did, applying slightly too much power and enthusiasm into it... My right ear's hearing will never be the same again...

As the kind monk explained to us, it's one of the old sanscrit letteres for Buddha's name, therefore cherished greatly.

Believe it or not, but down route was much steeper (and potentially more lethal) than climbing one! The water over there is lake Biwa, the biggest lake of Japan.

At this point, we were so tired we just wanted to run to the station and sit in the train...

An old shrine at the foot of the mountain. Felling Spirited Away, anyone? :-)

北野天満宮 - Kitano Tenmangu shrine in full bloom, 14/03/2012

Can you see these hands with cameras? Of course you can. Welcome to flower-viewing in Japan...

Every time I'm taking a picture against the sun and achieve wonderful effects by complete accident and sheer luck, I hear my father's voice: never directly in the sun, you'll overexpose the film...

 

The white flowers smell the most delightfully, in my opinion!

This 狛犬, komainu, shrine guardian dog, looks very content indeed!

The dusk, as usual falling far too quickly here, compared to Europe...