Miyajima Island

Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture is one of three places in Japan where I have encountered “wild” deer upclose.  (The other two places being Nara Park in Nara Prefecture and Shiretoko National Park in Hokkaido Prefecture.)  Miyajima is sometimes also referred to as Itsukushima Island and is the location of World Heritage site Itsukushima Shrine.  Itsukushima Shrine is famous for its large “torii” gate which is located in the middle of the bay in front of the shrine.

Itsukushima shrine is partly built over the water, and the bay is subject to a tidal difference of about 1 meter.  Below is a photo of the shrine at high tide.

Next is a photo of the shrine only about 4 hours later.  The tide has receded so far that visitors are walking on the sand.

Miyajima is a picturesque location and there are thousands of visitors every day. I visited on a holiday weekend, and the island was crowded with both domestic and international tourists.

Miyajima is accessed by a ferry that takes about 10 minutes to make the crossing from the mainland.  The one way ticket was 180 yen.

After landing on Miyajima and exiting the harbor building,

visitors will see a row of small souvenir shops and restaurants.

Almost immediately, visitors will encounter the local deer.  According to the Miyajima Tourist Association homepage, there are about 500 deer living on the island, and about 200 living within the town. 

Although the deer are “wild”, they do not run away when tourists approach to take selfie photographs.  And although the deer are quite tame, signs posted around the island remind visitors that the deer are “wild animals”, and that visitors should not touch or feed the deer.

Because visitors do not feed the deer on Miyajima, the deer are not as aggressive towards tourists as the deer in Nara Park. 

Here are photographs of various deer spotted around the island.

If you like deer, this is definitely a place to visit. 

(Note: All photos in this post were taken during a visit made on November 24, 2018.  The comments in this post are based on observations made at that time.  Conditions may have since changed.  Please check it out for yourself!)