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The Hiroshima stage · Miyajima · Scheduled in the guidebook for 29 September
On Miyajima, we take a photograph together in front of the red torii. Anneliese and I beside the water, the great gate behind us. An image with a highly practical function: it explains, without a lengthy caption, why we flew so far.
The gate stands there as though it chose its position with great care. We stand in front of it and try not to be too much of a distraction. When travelling, you are sometimes the main character and sometimes merely a human indication of scale beside a landmark.
A rest day with a surprising amount of movement
The guidebook calls the fourth tour day a rest day in Hiroshima. Miyajima and the Itsukushima Shrine are part of it. Our pictures show the boat landing, the gate by the water, the shrine and the lanes. On a journey, a rest day is an elastic concept. The motorcycle rests. Its owner carries on.
After the grand view by the water come the smaller things: lanes, roofs, doorways and food. Anneliese among the stalls, the two of us in front of the gate, people going about their day. I like precisely this mixture. A famous place consists of more than its most famous photograph. Life carries on around it, and you can join in for a while.
When the journey grows quieter
The manual also includes Hiroshima’s Peace Park and Peace Museum. These places carry a different weight from a beautiful viewpoint. I will not turn them into a personal visit report here without the corresponding memories. Even in the planning, historic Hiroshima and the island sit side by side: gravity and beauty, reflection and moving on.
Our Miyajima photographs tell their island story without much fanfare. Water, the red gate and two travellers happy to be here. No record required. Sometimes it is quite enough to stand together in front of something beautiful.
The route then continues via Iwakuni and the Kintai Bridge towards Yamaguchi. Japan still has plenty of pages to turn. So do we.
