A Day of Contrast: Miyajima and Hiroshima

Our bright, sunny, cool Sunday weather made up for that storm-tossed Thursday past and proved a pleasant background to a busy, enjoyable, yet sobering day.

As our morning began, we traveled by trolley from our hotel in Hiroshima down to Miyajima-guchi, forty-five minutes or so away, where we boarded a ferry for the short ten minute cruise out to Miyajima ("Shrine Island").

Imagine our surprise when we arrived to find a large screen monitor in the terminal lobby broadcasting the sixth series game between the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Redsocks, Unfortunately the Indians were already behind, so we didn't linger long but instead headed off to visit Itsukushima, the Shinto shrine that is the island's claim to fame.

The shrine's great orange torii gateway, which at high tide appears to float in the Seto Inland Sea, today was instead left high and dry by the receding waters; the colorful structure nonetheless still presented a memorable sight to the hundreds of Sunday visitors surrounding us flocking to see it on this picture perfect day.

At the shrine itself we happened upon a wedding just beginning and were able not only to witness the entire ceremony but also to watch a richly-robed and masked ritual dancer perform afterwards for the newlyweds, their family guests and the resident shrine deities!



Thirty or forty minutes later, as we left the shrine complex, we encountered a street performer and his trained monkey entertaining the Sunday crowds. What a treat!

Thereafter a short uphill climb brought many of us to Daishoin, a Buddhist temple with as eclectic a collection of ritual objects and religious artifacts as one could hope to imagine, including a Tibetan Buddihst altar and image dedicated by the Dalai Lama, a full set of 500 Rakan and a cave with a ceiling covered with perpetually burning small bronze lanterns!

EXITING THE TEMPLE WE COULD TWIRL TIBETAN PRAYER WHEELS AS WE DESCENDED

Returning to the mainland and to Hiroshima for the afternoon, we spent much of the remainder of the day working our way through the exhibits at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and listening to the sobering memories of August 6, 1945, recounted for us by an hibakusha (A-bomb survivor) who met privately with us for an hour or so at the end of our museum visit.

Afterwards we stopped at the Victims' Memorial Arch and the Children's Peace Monument. At the latter each of us approached and rang a bell, offering our own individual prayers for peace and pledging our efforts to work towards achieving it.

We left behind as well the folded paper cranes we had made the day before in our hotel lobby under Masae-san's tutelage. None of us, I suspect, will soon forget the feelings welling up during these memorable moments, even long after this tour is over and done with.

The day ended with all of us trooping off to Okonomiyaki Mura, a seven-floor emporium in the center of the city, much of it dedicated to okonomiyaki, a one-dish meal of great complexity which every visitor to Hiroshima worth his or her salt (soy sauce?) must, without doubt, sample at least once.

A thin crepe about eight inches across is topped with julienned cabbage, bean sprouts, seaweed, bacon and a fried egg. The entire crepe is then flipped and, after cooking on the grill, placed atop a bed of soba buckwheat noodles, sprinkled with spices and served with a flavorful dark brown miso sauce. Delicious with a cold beer, some sake rice wine or even a glass of orange juice.

Those of us still functioning after dinner, went off to a karaoke box while the rest returned by trolley to our hotel and (hopefully) a satisfying good night's sleep ...