Heart of Hiroshima

The Great Torii, the vermilion wooden gate that stands 200 meters offshore.[Photo by Sun Ye/China Daily]

A journey with the gods

"Oh, my!"

"Wow. Let's call someone we love deeply."

That's what the view on top of Mt Misen does to even the travel-weary. At just 500 meters above sea level, the Miyajima island peak gives a taste of what it rightly boasts: that it's the island of the gods.

The island is best known for the Great Torii "floating" on water. Torri, the vermilion wooden gate that stands 200 meters offshore, is considered the entry point from the human world to the celestial one according to Japanese Shinto belief.

The godly place, also a World Heritage site since 1996, is easy to reach. The islet is only half an hour away from the heart of bustling Hiroshima by local train and a 10-minute ferry ride from Miyajimaguchi. (If you have a JR pass it's all free.)

On the island, you are immediately whisked a thousand years back in time as it has remained much the same since it was chosen as site for the Itsukushima Shrine, where the Great Torri stands guard since the Heian period (AD 794-1185, named for the location of the imperial capital).

Observing the Torri is also one way to track time on the island. The gate looks planted in the Seto Inland Sea waters in the morning, riding a tide that rises to its max around 11 am during early October. Then, as water slowly retreats, time is marked by how much land emerges between the Torri and the shore. By 5 pm, the base of the gate's pillars are laid bare, and a carpet of flabby sea grass is fully exposed, leaving tourists free walk to the gate and insert coins into its cracks and holes shaped by fossilizing shells on the wood. It's said to bring good luck.

For the complete Miyajima experience: Tread the zigzagging wooden floor at Itsukushima Shrine in the back, find a spot to gaze at the floating Torri, have local grilled oysters and Momiji Manjyu with sweet red-bean fillings, spend a night in a traditional ryokan while wearing a yukata (a robe) and geta shoes. Be prepared to fend off wild deer that will poke their heads out along the sidewalk seeking munchies.