I’m on top of my maiden

When we were booking our trip to Japan I kept looking at going to Mount Fuji but the Long Suffering Husband insisted that we didn’t have time. He was right. I’m glad I listened to him as I’m really looking forward to a five nights in the same place tomorrow. It will be so lovely to unpack.

Tonight we are staying on the island of Miyajima. You’ve probably never heard of it but you’ve seen the pictures.

It’s such a beautiful, spiritual place. Wild deer wander around and try to get into the few hotels that are here to nibble on the plastic trees.

You can hear birds tweeting in Japanese (yes, they do sound different). The waves lap gently at the shore in front with mountain filled trees behind. You can see why it was chosen as a spiritual place. It’s full of Shintō temples and shrines and even contains the  eternal flame, lit by the Shogun but the best of these are at the top of the mountain.

There is a cable car, called the Miyajima Ropeway that takes you most of the way to the top. The LSH is a bit scared of things that you can plummet to your death from but we are having a holiday of being brave. Also, I think he thought I’d make him walk up. We shared a cable car with two Japanese ladies, who were more nervous and enjoyed chatting in the smiling, gesturing way you do when you don’t speak each other’s language.

When you get to the top of the ropeway there is still quite a trek up to the top. Our new friends didn’t make it but I think they had the wrong shoes. As we were going up the LSH said, “How come you make me do this every holiday we have?”
I suddenly realised why Fuji was not on our itinerary. He thought I’d want to climb it.
When we got to the top he WhatsApped the kids, “I’m on top of my maiden.”
Autocorrect had given them a bit of a shock but he was telling them the name of the mountain: Mt Misen.
It was worth it as the views were spectacular and I found my favourite god.

I stopped in the little shop to buy a bookmark and get my little book stamped and the man gave me a  present of a second bookmark and explained that the mountain was a maiden, it’s line drawing shown
on the bookmark, turned sideways looks exactly like a woman.

We did walk all the way down the mountain, which may not have been the best idea as we are sleeping in a traditional style room tonight. Sleeping on the the floor with creaky knees and aching back might be a challenge.