Miyajima: Mountains, Monkeys and Tiny, Little Buddhist Monk Statues

After our quick 6 minute (timed) showers, we were up and out at the crack of....9AM to tackle the mountain. But first, courtesy of a local panya and konbini, I bring you the breakfast of champions!

Nothing says healthy living like Japanese sweet breads and 7-11 apple juice!

With more sugar and carbs than one should have in a week in our systems, we were off! The torii was still there.

The plum blossoms were starting to bloom

It was overcast and about 40 F. Perfect weather for a climb! We chose the western (and most difficult) climb, not out of any machismo, but because we hadn't see that part yet, having taken the ropeway up and gone down the center path on our last trip here. It was a challenging route, very steep, with a 30% grade, though many "stairs" made it easier to handle.

After about a two hour climb, we deciding to see the Okunoin (Buddhist graveyard), which was on a separate path. That path turned out to bring us about halfway BACK DOWN the mountain we had just hiked up, and to an Okunoin that could only be called "Under Construction". They had been slowly restoring the area to some semblance of old-school Japanese Buddhist-like ambiance. But it currently looked like the back lot of a power company, except with ancient Buddhist stone markers

Notice the variety of sophistication of the carvings. Some of these have been here for over 1200 years.

Worth the trip, I think, despite having to climb back up the mountain again. Once we got back to where we left off, we continued up Misen-san to a cluster of temples that were founded by the famous Kukai, the guy who basically brought Zen Buddhism to Japan. There is a shrine here with The Eternal Flame, a fire that was supposedly lit by Kukai when he first got here and was doing his meditation thing on top of the mountain, and his disciples and their descendants have kept it burning ever since. That's the story, anyway, and makes for a good tale to tell tourists.

I wonder if it would be sacrilegious to toast marshmallows here?

A short climb later, we had reached the top of Mt. Misen! There is an observatory with a great view of the surrounding area, and, since this is Japan, a vending machine and a small ramen stand. We had a snack of tiny ¥200 Cokes (about 8 oz each) and a large Meiji chocolate bar, which is the Hershey's of Japan. A young deer was very curious (perhaps covetous would be a better word) about our chocolate, and came over to see if we were suckers enough to share. We weren't, and he left after licking my hand and trying to sneak a bite from behind us.

GQ eat your heart out

Our trip back down went, predictably, faster. We saw many smaller shrines on the way up and down. Most of them had some small offerings, some had red or white cloth covering the Buddhas as an offering to protect children and elderly and in memory of those who had died. One rather confused worshipper offered Christmas cheer....to Buddhist statues in Japan.

Old Saint Nikaprabhupahda?

We did not encounter any monkeys this time around, to Sumi's relief. It was apparently a little too cold for them to be wandering around. At the end of the path down, we did encounter the Japanese Liliyput. Daishoin, a temple containing several unique works of art, including sutras engraved on spindles of a railing that lead up to the main temple

Exactly 100 steps lead up to the temple

and unique representations of the original 500 disciples of Kukai. Each of the statues is different, capturing the personality of each individual disciple. Their names are carved on their backs, and it's quite an experience to walk among all of them.

At the end of our long day, we took the ferry back to the mainland and stopped at the nearest restaurant to our hostel, which happened to be a great little Italian place (yup, Italian), run by a couple of Japanese guys. The food was very authentic Italian style, and very tasty. We split a Margharita Pizza (real, made with fresh basil, tomatoes and mozzerella cheese) and each had an awesome dessert. Sumi had Ichigo (strawberry) Tiramasu and I had Banana Creme Brule. We left the cameras at the hostel for charging, so no pictures this time, but if you are ever in the Miyajima area, check out Polipo, just by the Miyajimaguchi Ferry station.