Mount Misen and Daisho-in Temple
Thursday, October 6, 2016
After a long day in Fukuoka, we decided to visit Itsukushima, an island off the Hiroshima shore, also known as Miyajima (Island of Shrines). It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and ishome of the famous floating Torii gates of Itsukushima Shrine. The Torii is considered to be one of three old views of Japan, or Special Places of Scenic Beauty. No wonder the island is constantly under the siege of tourists.
Even though we wanted to get up early to beat the crowds, we took off quite late, around 8 am. The local Sanyo train line, running charming old yellow cars from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi (Miyajima Gates) station, is the most convenient but certainly not the fastest way to get to the ferry. The ferry runs every 15 minutes during daytime and gets you to the island in about ten minutes.
We disembarked the ferry with dozens of other tourists around 10 am. Everyone turned right and hurried to the famous floating Torii gates that you can see quite well while approaching the island. We looked at the crowd and turned left, planning to hike up Mount Misen before heading to the main tourist attractions.
The narrow winding road started to climb up pretty soon, offering occasional views of the island. After half an hour walk we found a turn off to a rugged stairs promising a shortcut ascent. It was Momijidani, Mount Misen Climbing Course, the shortest and the steepest path to the summit. The pathway offered little scenic views, but the forest was quite nice and we welcomed its shadow in that sunny and rather hot day.
The two kilometre path to the summit has about 500 meters elevation gain, so it takes about an hour to get there with no rush. Of course, there is a ropeway that would take you all the way up, but we wouldn’t trade the pleasure of a forest hike for the convenience of the transportation. The summit is crowned with a two-storey observatory building.
The views from the Mount Misen observatory on a sunny day are breathtaking. You can see the entire city of Hiroshima on the north, some other mountainous islands on the east, and Iwakuni, a city in neighbouring Yamaguchi prefecture on the south. We enjoyed the views and decided to return back via another route leading to Daisho-in Temple, the temple dedicated to Kobo Daishi, the founder of the Shingon Buddhism Sect and one of Japan’s holiest religious persons.
Misen Hondo, or Misen Main Hall, located close to the summit, is the first building belonging to Daisho-in Buddhist Temple that we walked by. The second temple building, Reikado or the Hall of Spiritual Flame, which protects a flame, which Kobo Daishi is said to have lit when he began worshiping on the mountain. It has been burning ever since, and was also used to light the Flame of Peace in Hiroshima’s Peace Park.
However, the most impressive part of the interior were the long-nosed Tengu masks.
Tengu are the fearsome demi-gods who protect the mountains. These demon-like creatures are depicted with red faces and angry expressions. But their most obvious feature is a long, red nose. In the past, tengu were more birdlike. As they became human, that beak turned into a nose but kept its long shape. Tengu masks are used for Noh stage plays and certain Shinto festivals. They’re also often used as a decoration since the tengu are thought to frighten bad spirits and bring good luck.
The Daisho-in course down seemed significantly longer than our path up. However, if offered some excellent views along with occasional hidden curiosities – you just had to keep your eyes wide open.
The main Daisho-in Temple complex at the foot of Misen Mountain impressed us with a lantern hall called Henjokutsu Cave. There are 88 principal Buddhist statues which are related to the Shikoku Pilgrimage of 88 temples. Followers believe that they can receive the blessings in this cave instead of visiting all the temples of pilgrimage route.
Daisho-in Temple is surrounded by 500 Rakan Statues that all represent a Buddhist monk who is said to be directly instructed by the Buddha himself. Most of the the Rakan Statues are decorated with hand-made beanie hats, some wearing glasses, which makes the entire view feel quite surreal.
It was late afternoon, and we came to realization that we haven’t had an opportunity for a lunch yet, so we left the Daisho-in Temple and directed our steps to the town below, not missing an opportunity to ring a huge bell right outside of the main hall of the temple.
