Cultural City of Kyoto

Piggletino welcomes everyone to Kyoto! Although ravaged by natural disasters like many other areas of Japan, Kyoto was relatively spared from the destruction of WWII, and today stands as testament to the cultural richness of Japan.

 

Most of the historical attractions are easily accessible by local train. Only 3 minutes away from the Inari station, this the Fushimi Inari Shrine (recognise the Torii Gate?) No, this isn’t just ‘yet another shrine’ – rather, it is famous for the thousands of orange torii gates that line its walkways and leads into the wooded forests and heads up to Mount Inari.

 

The Fushimi Inari Shrine is dedicated to the Shinto god of rice. Piggletino highlights the hiking trails behind the main shrine building, which starts with two parallel rows of Senbon Torii – literally ‘thousands of torii gates’ which are donated by individuals and organisations. This forms a covered walkway to the summit of the mountain (it takes 3 hours!) Of course, you can take a 45 minute walk to an opening which offers great views of Kyoto city!

 

 

Miyajima: Itsukushima Shrine

Welcome back, everyone! Piggletino would like to show you the giant torii gate set out in the Seto Inland Sea, up-close!

They say at high tide, the gate will look like it is afloat in the waters. Too bad Piggletino didn’t get a picture of it this time!

Today we visit the Itsukushima Shrine which looks out to the sea. The shrine has several wooden plank walkways and is designed to look like a pier.

After visiting the Shrine, Piggletino chanced upon a long flight of steps upwards and decided to explore:

See, the scout was so slow that Piggletino was so far ahead! This strong little pig made his way all the way up to the Senjokaku Hall, which literally translates to ‘the Pavilion of 1000 mats’. The hall has no ceilings or entrance; as it turns out, it was unfinished following the death of its commissioner, Hideyoshi.

Directly adjacent to the hall was the 5-storied Pagoda…

There are many other walking trails around the island but Piggletino was so exhausted from the blazing sun. Looks like we’ll have to come back to visit this quaint little island another time in the near future! (EXCUSES THE LITTLE PIG MAKES TO GET MORE TRIPS!! 😉 )

Making it to Miyajima!

Look, a ferry…

…and a Piggletino!

Welcome, everybody! Piggletino has decided to be the tour-guide for everyone reading this post 🙂 Live commentary from the pig himself!
Today we head towards Miyajima Island, approximately 10 minutes by Ferry away from Hiroshima. The term ‘Miyajima’ means ‘Shrine Island’, and we’re here to see the giant torii gate!

Remember when the silly scout was trying to figure out the story behind the torii gate? How very silly – there’s a giant one appearing to float on the water! And the torii gate is a traditional Japanese gate that marks the entrance of a Shinto Shrine.

Here, we arrive at Miyajima Island –

… (Piggletino is sitting on a map of the island) where wild deers stay! But please don’t feed them!

Now that we’ve arrived, let’s take a short break before we continue to walk on! Don’t wander too far off from Piggletino!