Day 2: The sky cried....again

                  

The day started with Room Service Breakfast rolled in on a linen covered table and the day just progressed from there. We left the hotel lobby, hit the station in Kyoto in search of Platform 13 , the Shinkansen or Bullet Train to Hiroshima. Train tragic that he is, Chris was very excited to be traveling on his first Shinkansen. As we were in Car 16 at the very back of the train, we got a great view of its arrival into Kyoto. On-board, what did we discover.... a car full of Australian school kids. They were very well behaved and most of them slept the entire way to Hiroshima. While on-board during the almost two hour trip, a trolly service made its way through the train selling all kinds of random snacks. That is service for you.

The Shinkansen bolts along at a racking pace. Just out of Kyoto it is mainly flat plains but then as the hills draw closer to the coast, the train passes through a series of small valleys separated by tunnels. The valleys are beautiful but so small that if you blink you miss them, and all the while the mist descended low over the mountains. Something of an omen it seemed. It was ghostly, eerie.

Safely arrived in Hiroshima, we found our bearings, checked out the hotel lobby where we had to meet the guide and then went exploring to find somewhere for a coffee break. There is a huge amount of renovation going on at the Hiroshima station and its environs and, by this time the rain was pelting, and so we did not venture too far. Back for the 10.30 rendezvous and, aqualung and flippers in tow, it was time to board the bus for a run around central Hiroshima before moving down to the coast to catch the ferry to Miyajima ... which is mistakenly called Miyajima Island, but it is really the town on Itsukushima Island and Miyajima actually means Shrine Island.  Looking at the Hiroshima skyline, the first thing that strikes you is the sameness of the buildings in terms of age... this is the first inkling of the scope of the events of August 6 1945, but more on that later. 

Miyajima
Miyajima is a 10 minute ferry ride from the mainland and it is home to the famous red tori gate that is seemingly floating in the water, until the tide goes out and you can see the footings sitting on the sand.  The gate is the 8th generation gate, in that it is the 8th to be built on this site and it dates back to 1877. It is red and black... two colours viewed with rejection in Shinto and yet, both the gate and the shrine are adorned with red. Miki tells us that the gate used to be painted with mercury based paint... which lasted a long time but did shocking things to the fish. 16 metres tall and 24 metres long, it is an imposing structure and it is not really footed at all. The gate balances on the mud flats and is weighted by rocks that are placed in the hollow top. When you consider the king tides and storm surges that the gate weathers, it is a miracle that it stays there.

The Isukushima Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, and it is easy to see why. This Shinto shrine, dating back in location and parts to 1160's is expansive and quite inspirational. The gate "protects" it from evil, but they still let us in to have a look around. At the entrance way one washes hands with water drawn from a spring by a bamboo pannier. Then it is time to walk around and observe the various shrines. We were very fortunate, because in the main shrine there was a wedding taking place and, while we had to be very quiet, we were fortunate to see the beautiful traditional movements and hear the chanting that accompanied the wedding. The main shrine is dedicated to the three daughters of Susano-o no Mikoto, Shinto god of seas and storms, and brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Retaining the purity of the shrine is so important that since 1878, no deaths or births have been permitted near it. To this day, pregnant women are supposed to retreat to the mainland as the day of delivery approaches, as are the terminally ill or the very elderly whose passing has become imminent. Burials on the island are forbidden.

There is also a Noh theatre stage in the centre of the shrine and that also dates back to the 16 Century providing a venue for the enactment of significant Shinto myths. The 5 level pagoda towers behind the shrine and was built also in the 16 century in Zen Buddhist style.

There are many places to make offerings around the shrine. One of the traditions has that the dangling of white strips of cloths will keep the shrine safe from evil. Looking similar to this, the faithful purchase offerings which are white paper cash register dockets and they are tied to strings at various places around the shrine.  At another place in the shrine offerings can be made to a person ( whose name escapes me) who was a school master who became a deity (This shrine is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane, also called Tenjin, a prestigious deity of education and intelligence - Chris). Here the offerings a little cards with lettering on them that students make to request a good examination result and the like... my fellow chalkies may appreciate this deification.  The other thing that took my interest was the 108 granite lanterns that adorn the coastline near the shrine. 108 is an important number in Buddhism... Miki says that 100 is about the ways of evil and the 8 fold path is the way to righteousness.. Be that as it may, they all light up at night and would make a magnificent display. She also told us that, while 90% of Japanese follow Shinto, 70% plus are also Buddhist and so they historical blending of the two ancient religions continues to influence life in modern day Japan. ( Heck sounding like an SoR teacher here)

Miyajima is also a quaint little village and has some lovely eateries and shops selling all manner of souvenirs. We had brought a sandwich from the railway station and so did not need much for lunch but found this amazing ice-cream that is sold in a sweetbread cornet. Chris chose White Peach flavour and it was speckled with pieces of white peach and mine was caramel crunch and it lived up to its name... Unfortunately we were due to catch the 2.25 ferry, however 4 people from our group were late back and we were delayed til the next ferry... which was a little bit of pressure to get the Hiroshima experience completed and get back for our 5.47 Shinkansen.

A view of some of the lanterns, looking towards the Tori gate

The JR Ferry

Liz amongst Cherry Blossoms

and Cherry Blossoms

Hiroshima
For me (Liz) I had wondered how I would react to being in Hiroshima Peace Park... a student of history, I have studied the wars, I have taught the John Hersey novel Hiroshima and I have visited the World  War One battle fields, stood mute beside the ovens of Dacchau and wept on the decks of the USS Arizona monument in Pearl Harbour... all moving experiences, but the sense of being overwhelmed was perhaps more raw in this beautiful space.

Our first stop was the A bomb dome. This had been a government building with an observatory like structure at its centre. IT must have looked resplendent on the river bank until 8.15 am on 6 August 1945 where it was reduced to a heap of twisted metal and shattered brickwork. Its structure remains in part, and each 3 years it is tested for structural soundness. At present it is covered in scaffolding as a part of that testing, but it serves as such a reminder of the scope of the disaster.









Nearby the A bomb dome was a place where school children had been conscripted to work preparing packs and munitions for the war effort. There were somewhere up to 6,500 of them killed on the day the bomb was dropped and a 5 level 5 level pagoda style monument covered with 8 doves representing the 8 fold path to Enlightenment stands where many of these children perished. Unspeakable carnage. At this point my stomach tenses and I feel tears close to the surface.

We walked the length of the park where we saw the " Rest Centre" the only building in Hiroshima that remained structurally in tact. Hard to believe that everything else was levelled. The randomness of it all. Crossing to the other side of the river we walked along to the Peace Bell and the Peace clock. Every morning at 8.15 am the peace clock chimes, a reminder of the silence before the blinding flash on that August day. The peace bell, engraved in ancient Sanskrit and covered in the engraving of a world map without boarders, has a blank circle at eye height. Visitors are invited to look into he circle as if into a mirror and to eliminate hatred and find peace.  They then ring the bell to cleanse the soul of the self and to help cleanse humanity that this will never happen again. Moving away from the bell we arrived at a funeral mound topped with a metal pagoda. This is the resting place of the ashes of those who were unknown, at least 70000 or more interred in this place. Gone vanished without a trace.

We then arrived at the Children's Peace Monument. Draped in thousand and thousands of paper cranes, it was build in the memory of Sadako Sasaki, a young Hiroshima girl who developed Leukaemia as a result of exposure to radiation. She attempted to fold 1000 paper cranes, in line with the Japanese legend that anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes would be granted their wish. Sadako did not survive, however her legacy is a peace legacy and this monument is so powerful. Tears streaming down my face.

The final stop was the Cenotaph and the Eternal Flame. The flame, which looks like it is being upheld by two hands will burn until all war ceases and peace reigns. A noble sentiment!. The cenotaph, just down from the flame contains the names of all the known victims of the blast, both at the time of the blast and as a result of complications following. When you stand at the cenotaph and look through the arch, there is a fabulous alignment that links the A Bomb Dome with the flame and cenotaph... it is haunting, powerful... such sacred ground.  The final stop in Hiroshima was the Peace Museum. It is undergoing renovations, I suspect in preparation for the Anniversary later this year, but the quick look that we had was goosebumps stuff. The real face, the human face, to horror of war. The sadness!!! Etched in my memory for ever. And the humanity was brought even closer by our tour guide Miki whose mother had been a 17 year old school girl some 2km from the Hyperzone on the day of the explosion... she explained the tiers of health care for survivors but said very little else except that her mum does not like to talk about it

WE caught a cab back to station and grabbed a  Katsu dinner box to eat on the Shinkansen back to Kyoto.

Gion Corner
A quick trip back to the hotel to drop our stuff to go onto Gion. This is the entertainment district styled in old traditional manner. We got there by catching two trains and when we arrived it was pouring rain. As a result there were not many Geisha in the area so we did not see much.A walk in the rain slightly further down to the river and we found the illuminated cherry blossoms. Wow!!! Carpet of petals. Spectacular but fragile. It struck me that this was a fabulous motif for the fragility of life today in Hiroshima. Again the sky cried!!!

ON the return journey we mistakenly boarded an express train and had an extra long ride for our 150yen. OOppppsss!!! 6 stations too far. Had to catch the train back. What a LONG day