Itsukushima

But that's what I like to do.

And I found a really great place on Miyajima because Miyajima has a year round open treasure house, which is kind of unusual.

And while I have to admit that not all of the items they have in there are originals, because stuff's too ancient to really leave it out in the light and such.

But they have replicas of the scrolls, which are, again, the Lotus Sutra, but they were written by the members of the Heike clan.

And they're in these nice cases that are also metal with gold or silver, dusted mica on the scrolls and such.

And you can see these replicas, and they're very well done.

So that's something that, you know, if you're in Miyajima, because actually the shrine there, which is Utsukushima, the shrine there with the floating torii gate and

all...

You can reach the trailhead of Fushimi Inari easily from the Inari stations of the Keihan and Nara lines in Kyoto.

Finally, we have number 3, Mount Misen, located at the also famous Miyajima Island of Hiroshima Prefecture.

It's accessed right around town where the floating torii gate is.

Summiting grants you 360 degree views over the Seto Inland Sea.

It's 535 meters to the summit.

The Buddhist spiritual sites along the way are truly ancient.

Miyajima Island is accessible by ferry from the community of Itsukushima, which itself is an easy train ride from Hiroshima City.

I believe those are the most popular mountain hikes, besides Fuji-san, that international visitors are likely to approach.

Uh, Buddhism teaches that there is a way to end it, and in fact, part of the way is to walk the middle path or to follow the way of the Buddha.

Uh, I don't know if you experienced this living in Eastern Asia, but, um, traveling around to shrines in Japan, I've been to, uh- uh, Miyajima Island off the coast of Hiroshima, and there's a shrine there, there's also one in Kyoto, that has the Buddhist footprints.

And they're not actually the footprints of Buddha, it's, you know, it's symbolic.

But if you stand in the footprints, they're ab- they say that they'll heal you of your sicknesses, which are mostly symbolic.

So I have a very somewhat similar conceptually but different story overall.

There's a, a, I think it's technically a Buddhist shrine.

There's a Buddhist shrine on top of, um, that Miyajima Island I had mentioned.

And I'm not a Buddhist.

Joshua, going into hour number two tonight, I wanted to, since you've been to a Buddhist temple before, I wanted to give you an example and share a story with you that I think is very relatable to what we're discussing.

When I came to East Asia and I went to a Buddhist temple in Hiroshima, I went to the island of, I went to the shrine of Itsukushima and I went to this little island called, it's called Miyajima.

And I go to this island, names don't matter, but I went to this island and there's a couple of Buddhist temples, but I went to the main one at the very top of the island.

And I had never been to a Buddhist temple that had these elements, the elements where they had an impression, obviously not literal, but an impression of the feet, the physical feet of Buddha.

Right, it's a place for remembering history and thinking about peace.

Nearby is Miyajima, with the enormous torii gate of Itsukushima Shrine that appears to rise out of the water at high tide.

And further east, in the region, you can find historical places like Ooyama and Kurashiki.

Japan isn't just one giant line from Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka.

Hiroshima.

Itsukushima floating looking torii gate.

Miyajima.

Himeji Castle.

And I thought, well, this is a good start.

And then I said, you know, what was your favorite memory? And, and she said, oh, walking around Miyajima in the, in the rain, you know, I was like, okay, also good.

And then she was like, the next text said, and everything else.

And I thought,

It went to Tokyo a few days, from there to Hakone, which is, uh, known for hot springs.

Uh, then we went to the Hiroshima area, uh, and visited, uh, Miyajima.

I, I think it's called Miyajima Island, which was lovely.

Just a lovely, lovely place with a lot of deer.

It's not the same as Nara, which is the famous one with deer all over, but it's similar.

You carry them in.

Enoshima Jinja, the Enoshima Shrine, was developed over many centuries on the island's central heights, and it is one of the three great Benzaiten shrines in Japan, along with the Chikubu Island Shrine in Lake Biwa and the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima near Hiroshima.

All three enshrine the three sea goddesses of Japanese mythology, Tagirihime no Mikoto, Tagitsuhime no Mikoto, and Ichikishimahime no Mikoto, who are collectively identified as the manifestation of Benzaiten.

In 1182, the connection between Kamakura and Enoshima was formalized when Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun, enshrined Benzaiten in the island's cave as a prayer for the success of his military campaigns.

You know, it's more, I'd say it's more domestic touristy than inbound tourist.

Oh, the third view is Miyajima, isn't it, in Hiroshima?

Yeah, of course.

And of course, on that coast, you've got the Michinoka Coastal Trail, which we mentioned briefly earlier.