The peak of Mt Misen, at 535m, is the highest point on Miyajima Island.
Journey
After exploring the shrine and other buildings in the lowlands, we walked to the ropeway station, called Miyajima Ropeway. We boarded a cable car up Mt Misen.
Before that, we passed through a small outdoor cafe / restaurant. I was expecting tourist trap prices, and was pleasantly surprised. It seemed to have pretty decent food and prices that were almost reasonable. We stopped and had two bowls of udon to give us energy for the mountain. The ropeway station was not too crowded but I was surprised how long the journey was. Its broken into two segments and two types of cable cars. There’s a transfer station midway.
On the top station, we started hiking to the summit. The climb was more arduous than I expected (either that or I am getting old). It took us an hour to reach the top – 10 minutes before the viewing platform closed. Halfway up is a group of shrines including one with a flame supposedly resembling eternal love.
Mt Misen Sacred Sites and Summit
From the summit we can see spectacular views of Seto Inland Sea and Hiroshima city.
Mt Misen is a sacred site. It is associated with the historic Buddhist priest and founder of Shingon Buddhism, Kōbō Daishi (弘法大師).
The way down was a lot faster than the climb. However, the ropeway station was full with people eager to leave before the service closes. We ended up queuing for half an hour. On the way back to the ferry, we could see the tide rising, but still not enough to cover the shrine feet.
Afterwards
We got back to Hiroshima at night. We tried to find a good okonomiyaki place. However, by the time we found one it was crowded with a queue of people waiting to get in. So we opted for Plan B and went to a Chinese restaurant. I had a simple fried rice and some shiu mai. Luckily, our bags arrived by the time we checked in. I was so tired I fell asleep almost immediately after my bath.
