The Sacred Mountain

Sorry, we are running a bit behind.

Good morning Hiroshima. Breakfast on the 14th floor with a magnificent view of the Peace Square.

It looks so peaceful and green. Hard to believe that 80 years ago, there was not a single stone left standing and corpses floated in the river. These images come to my mind again and again when I look out. Before we start today’s reporting, let’s answer the question that surely everyone is asking and that we have also considered. Is it still radioactive here?

No, it is not. The reasons for this are: The dropped bomb contained many short-lived radioactive isotopes. Furthermore, a strong typhoon washed many radioactive particles out of the city one month after the bombing and distributed them through rain and wind to the surroundings. Lastly, the Hiroshima bomb exploded about 600 meters above the city, causing the radioactive material to be dispersed over a larger area from the very beginning. It occurs to me that I haven't written any facts about Hiroshima yet.

Facts:

Hiroshima is a modern port city with about 1.2 million inhabitants. Hiroshima gained worldwide fame as the target of the first military use of nuclear weapons on August 6, 1945, to force Japan into surrender.

But enough about that. Today, the island of Miyajima is on our agenda. On Miyajima is the sacred Mount Misen,

which can be climbed on foot or by cable car to catch a glimpse over the beautiful Inland Sea. With bus, train, and ferry, it took us just over an hour (we actually took 10 minutes longer because I mistakenly got into a bus that was going the wrong way) until we could set foot on the island. Here we are now at 10:30 AM and the planet is burning. Fortunately, I packed our microfiber towels today.

They were worth their weight in gold today. I am continually amazed at how much water can come out of a person! In many travel reports, the advice was given to take the cable car up and walk down. We briefly considered taking the cable car both ways but opted to take it up and walk down. To get to the cable car shuttle, we had to pass the main attraction, the Itsukushima Shrine.

The shrine was built in the 6th century and has existed in its current form since 1168. The torii of the Itsukushima Shrine is one of Japan's most famous tourist attractions.

At high tide, it appears to float.

As in Nara, there are deer here as well, but these are wild, and they must not be fed on the island. After taking a few pictures, we began our mountain tour.

The first stage we ascend comfortably by cable car, about three-quarters of the way up Mount Misen.

One has to take two cable cars up and climb 100 steps in between. That gets the circulation going a bit.

Facts:

Mount Misen is 535 m high and thus the highest mountain on the island. Since ancient times, the mountain has been an important destination for religious visitors.

To reach the summit, we first had to go down again before going back up - and how else could it be, it was around noon at 12:00 PM. Countless steps on our way. A nice leg and butt workout.

Unfortunately, we missed the eternal flame and just walked past it,

up the next steps - what a pity.

Kiezu-no-hi (The Eternal Flame) This is the sacred fire that was ignited by a Buddhist monk in 806. It still burns today and the holy water cooked from this fire is used for the treatment of diseases.

Completely exhausted, I reach the top. A monument should be built for the builder of the observation deck. Shoes off and set down. One fan in one hand and another fan in the other.

As I slowly regain my composure, Schahaatz is running around like an elf taking photos.

Kanman-iwa (Ebb-and-flow Rock) This rock is located about 500 meters above sea level, but somehow the saltwater in its hollow rises and falls according to the tide.

For the descent, there are three options: return by cable car - which we did not want, the 3.2 km long route seemed too long to us.

During my preparation for the trip, I had seen that at the

Buddhist temple Daishō-in, there are supposed to be 500 small Buddha figures with hats. I definitely wanted to see these.

The last route down led exactly past the Daishō-in temple. However, what I hadn't read beforehand was that this route is the most strenuous of the three and goes down over 2,000 stone steps.

During our nearly 2-hour descent, only 6 other people overtook us and 4 came towards us (the poor souls probably didn't know what awaited them).

Schahaatz mentioned at the summit that it won’t just be stairs down - if he didn’t misjudge that.

At some point, I was just walking in a trance and loudly cursing these bloody steps. And it felt endless.

After what felt like an eternity, we finally reached the temple and to my joy - stairs - but this time going up. Yeah 🫩. No, I’m not going up there, then I won’t see the beloved Buddhas. But Buddha had compassion on me and placed them right behind the torii without stairs, at least some of them.

I didn't want to see more of the temple than that. My feet were burning, my ankles hurt, and I was just worn out. I didn’t even have the energy to buy myself some water. Schahaatz had been up at the temple while I was languishing at the torii, relieving my feet, taking photos, and brought me water. It would have been nice to have some spare feet right now.

I just wanted to eat some ice cream now,

try the famous pastry filled with beans here on the island, maybe stroll through the shopping street looking for souvenirs (everything was on the way to the ferry terminal) and then go home.

As far as I'm concerned, dinner could have been skipped, but then we would have missed the delicious pizza.

Just a quick digestion walk under the Peace Park,

Took some magnesium and off to bed - let's see how I feel tomorrow.