Day: March 29, 2005

Here is the rest of the pictures from Miyajima.
The first is of a shrine to some god. There is a link I will also include at the bottom if anyone is interested in learning more about Miyajima. We did not go through the shrine for a couple of reasons–first it cost $3 & second we don’t believe in other gods, hence, there is no point in dabbling in it.

The next picture is of what we think is a newlywed couple having their traditional wedding pictures done. At first people were taking pictures of the woman alone–and I thought (the 3 of us thought) she was a professional model on a shoot. Then we saw the man–assumed they were professional models. Until this picture–and we realized that would be like a wedding kimono. She had just taken off her head dress or round hat & I got this picture with no one else in the picture–very hard. I found this very interesting.

The third picture is of a working shrine. We saw people actually burning incense & praying to gods & using the shrine. The large bowl type front & center is the incense. Then you had various “stations” to pray & burn more incense at.

This concludes the pictures of Miyajima. Here is the link to learn more.

Today, Wednesday, we took a trip to the Island of Miyajima. We drove up & rode the ferry over. It was a ton of walking –but I think it has been my favorite so far. There were little shops (it is more of a tourist place) and I was able to talk to the shop owners & buy a “handkerchief” (which I plan on using as the center of a quilt for our bed) and a small saki porcelain cup–which will be added to our shot glass collection. The shop owners were most helpful with my purchase of the handkerchief. And I paid for it!! I am so proud of myself because up until now JF or Stephanie had been doing the buying. They were both busy with the girls & I was free to look & browse & for once on this trip had money in my pocket! I was careful of how I spent the money–we used the last $6.50 on ice cream cones! J
About Miyajima. It is an island a little north of Iwakuni & is between here & Hiroshima. There are wild deer that eat out of your hand & are completely friendly–a tad aggressive though. They flock to whoever has food or may have food. MDF liked them from a distance–until one started being rather pushy for the food in her hand & followed her around. Then she got scared. However, she did enjoy running around with them (no food in her hands).

The first picture is of our boat loading dock & another boat that looks like the one we took over. The large blue & white boat with a M in red is the ferry boat.

The next picture is: JF showing MDF how to feed the deer. Very tame…later I discovered I could be a deer hunter. We were trying to eat a picnic lunch & the pesky animals kept trying to eat lunch with us…only we had to provide their food too! I soon got tired of them & no longer found it cute. In the next picture you can see how MDF reacted to the deer when it got too close.

JF was able to take some really nice shots of her playing around. As you can see with her taking a short breather.

The following picture is of the Tori gate. When the tide is low you can walk out & stand under the gate.

The area behind the Chicken Shack was very pretty. A path went around the various buildings and across another waterfall and stream. Across a rock bridge was a “Buddha in a Bib.” Apparently people weren’t deterred by the bib and put Yen there for good luck anyway.

Buddha in a Bib

Hello! We went to a place yesterday that is in the mountains & is known as the Chicken Shack. There is a restaurant that you can eat at & shops that you can walk through. The shops sell anything from food to knick-knacks. The weather was nice–a little drizzly but was fine for what we did.

The first picture is of houses that we passed on the way. I am shocked at how close the homes are around here! And not only that they have 3 & 4 generations living in one house because owning a home is so expensive. Can you imagine?! Not only are the homes close to each other (some roofs over lap others!) they are right on the street as well! Literally, there is the road & then a house in some places. Others there is a small patch of curbing (if you can call it a curb) and there is the yard. They plant gardens down the way a bit & it is more of a community type garden. Everyone pitches in together & reaps together. Some have their own plots.

The next picture is of a typical Japanese restaurant–pillows for chairs & a small table. This is looking into the Chicken Shack restaurant–MDF & I were curious. All around the area they had wood burning & tea pots going. I don’t know if you could drink from the pots–but I do know the smell brought back memories of hog killing days my family used to do! I thought I would be too young to remember but I asked Stephanie & sure enough it does. Not only that I was also looking for the cracklin’ pot! J Yea good memories.

The next picture is of MDF & me in front of some very pretty flowers & Japanese figurines. The flowers by my knees are cut & floating in water. It was a very nice area. The following is of the 3 of us directly across from where MDF & I were just standing. Final picture–snack time for MDF. The Chicken Shack is the building behind me.