Itsukushima Shrine

Itsukushima Shrine is on an island in Japan.

Its wooden buildings stand right at the edge of the sea. Behind them, tall hills are covered with trees.

Itsukushima Shrine stands on the island of Itsukushima, which many people call Miyajima, in Hiroshima Bay in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. A strait about 500 meters wide separates the island from the mainland. The island is about 9 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide.

The shrine's red-painted buildings stand on posts at the edge of the sea and are joined by long corridors. Behind them rises Mount Misen, the island's highest mountain. In front of them, out in the sea, stands the shrine's great gate, the O-torii.

UNESCO's World Heritage property covers 431.2 hectares of the island, and a buffer zone of 2,634.3 hectares takes in the rest of the island and part of the sea in front of the shrine. It holds seventeen buildings and three other structures in two shrine complexes, the main shrine (Honsha) and the Marodo-jinja complex, along with smaller buildings and the forest around Mount Misen, which ICOMOS gives as 530 m high.

UNESCO describes the setting as a 'trinity': the buildings in the center, the sea in the foreground and the mountains behind. It says this arrangement became recognized as a Japanese standard of beauty. By the middle of the Edo period, ICOMOS notes, the island was counted among the Three Most Scenic Places in Japan.

Out in the water stands a giant red gate.

It is almost 17 meters tall. The shrine also has a wide stage at the edge of the sea for very old court dances.

The O-torii, the great gate, stands in the sea about 212.7 meters from the shrine's worship hall. It is about 16.8 meters tall, with two main pillars about 13.4 meters high and four smaller supporting pillars, and it stands up under its own weight, the Miyajima Tourist Association says. Its roof is covered with Japanese cypress bark, and the whole gate is coated with vermilion lacquer. The gate has been rebuilt many times; today's, the ninth, went up in 1875.

In front of the main halls, a wide platform holds a raised stage with vermilion railings. ICOMOS says court dances were brought to it from the capital in the Heian period.

According to the Miyajima Tourist Association, the O-torii is about 16.8 m tall and built in the Ryōbu style, a wooden gate marked by four supporting pillars, a form said to have been adopted when it was rebuilt in 1547. The main pillars are about 13.4 m tall and 9.9 m around, the crossbeam is about 23.3 m long, and the gate is held in place by its own weight. ICOMOS notes that the gate, set in the sea, was especially vulnerable and was often rebuilt, most recently in 1875; the association counts the present gate as the ninth.

The ceremonial platform (Hirabutai) in front of the purification hall carries the raised stage (Takabutai), with vermilion lacquered balustrades on four sides. ICOMOS wrote in 1996 that the court dances performed there had come from the capital in the Heian period and had been kept up by the shrine's priests for more than eight centuries. A Noh stage, built in 1680, also stands over the sea; the tourist association calls it the only Noh stage in Japan that rests on the sea.

In the photo, the big red gate stands in blue water.

Its roof curves up at the ends. Behind it are hills covered with trees.

The photo, taken in December 2012, shows the O-torii standing in the sea. You can see its two thick main pillars, the four smaller supporting pillars and the curved roof on top, with a large plaque between the two upper beams. Behind it, tree-covered hills rise above the water, with buildings along the shore on the right.

The shrine has needed big repairs. In 1945 a landslide buried or swept away part of it, and the repair work lasted until 1957. A violent storm in September 1991 tore off much of the cypress bark roofing, and the restoration was finished in 1993.

In the photo (29 December 2012) the O-torii stands in the water, with its two main pillars, the four shorter supporting pillars joined to them by beams, the plaque between the two upper beams and the curved roof. Wooded hills and a line of buildings fill the background.

ICOMOS records two modern repair campaigns. In 1945 a landslide starting in the mountains behind the shrine buried or swept away part of the complex; repairs, together with works to prevent such damage in future, continued until 1957, and the massive new structures were disguised using traditional Japanese gardening techniques. In September 1991 a violent storm with exceptional high seas caused severe damage, including the loss of much of the cypress bark roofing, and restoration was completed in 1993. UNESCO notes that the twenty buildings and structures in the property are designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties.