Miyajima 宮島

“Shrine Island “/ “Schreininsel”

Miyajima is an island about twenty kilometers southwest of the Hiroshima in the Seto Inland Sea and, according to an Confucian scholar it is one of the three most beautiful landscapes in Japan, along with Ama-no-hashidate and Matsushima. The main buildings of Itsukushima shrine rest directly in front of the island. In the past, neither births nor deaths were allowed on the island, as both were considered a state of impurity, and even today dead bodies are taken from the island to the main island. Women have only been allowed to enter Miyajima since the 20th century. Mount Misen has been deeply rooted in the belief in the tengu for centuries. Legend has it that these mighty spirits guard the dense, untouched primeval forests of the mountain.