Leaving Hiroshima behind the next stop on our tour is the fascinating city of Kyoto. A heady mix of bustling modern city and hauntingly beautiful traditions. Before we even get into the city however I am distracted (it doesn’t take much TBH) with a selection of colourful magazines. Then a cute little shrine, festooned with moreContinue reading “Captivating Kyoto”
Monthly Archives: May 2017
Last shrine scenes
Here’s some final pictures from the Daishoi-In Shrine on Miyajima island. This quirky little temple is chock a block with interesting sights. These little Buddhas demonstrate the concept of getting through life by ignoring everything! Within the shrine is a beautiful cave full of hundreds of lanterns. Henjokutsu Cave holds 88 principal Buddhist icons which are relatedContinue reading “Last shrine scenes”
Statue mash up
Carrying on our trip around Daishoi-In Shrine we come across a room full of little gold statues. This is the room of 1000 Fudo Images. Commemorating the succession of the current (77th) head priest, one thousand Fudo myo-o, or Immovable King, images were donated by worshippers. The shrine is stuffed to the gills with aContinue reading “Statue mash up”
Daisho-in Shrine
Itsukushima Shrine might be the most well known but it is not the only shrine on Miyajima Island. We’re off to explore one of the lesser known (but to my mind even better) shrines. Daisho-in is the main temple of the Shingon Buddhist school of Omuro and it’s a treat! It is located at theContinue reading “Daisho-in Shrine”
Itsukushima Shrine
We’re carrying on our exploration of Miyajima Island now and we manage to wrangle an actual snap of us together! There’s a pretty little stretch of beach on the island that is completely empty except for us hardy Brits! Next up on our mooch is the pretty Itsukushima shrine where walkways seem to hover aboveContinue reading “Itsukushima Shrine”
Miyajima Island
Next stop on our whistle stop tour is Itsukushima, also known as Miyajima, a small island in Hiroshima Bay. We hopped on the JR ferry for the short trip across the bay to the island. You can get a ticket as part of the Japan Rail Pass so bonus for us! Just offshore, a giant, orangeContinue reading “Miyajima Island”
Hiroshima Castle
Hiroshima Castle (広島城 ) was built in the 1590s, but was destroyed by the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. It was rebuilt in 1958 and now serves as a museum of Hiroshima’s history before World War II. Mōri Terumoto, one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s council of Five Elders, built the castle between 1589 and 1599. It was locatedContinue reading “Hiroshima Castle”
Hiroshima by night
AKA endless shopping pictures from the mecca of department stores – Don Quijote. Night falls in Hiroshima and casts new shadows on the brooding A dome. Still ominous and dominating the riverside vista after 70 years. But the horrors of history are not the whole story of Hiroshima, it’s vibrant and bustling with a neon nightContinue reading “Hiroshima by night”
Horror and hope
Our next stop is a sombre one – the now infamous town of Hiroshima, forever synonymous with the horrors of the atomic bomb. Whenever we travel, we do our best to try and get beneath the surface of a country, to see all sides of it and it’s history. This can sometimes mean uncomfortable, orContinue reading “Horror and hope”
Brick Lane revisited
Along with a glut of candy coloured neon joy we also took a tour of some of London’s street art hot spots. We take a quick turn around Wood Street in Walthamstowe before heading to my favourite art spotting haunt – Brick Lane. We first visited around four years ago and it’s interesting to see howContinue reading “Brick Lane revisited”