Miyajima Torii and Itsukushima Shrine

One of Japan’s ‘Three Great Sights’, Itsukushima Shrine is otherwise known as ‘Miyajima’, which means ‘Shrine Island’ in Japanese. The shrine is well known worldwide for its ‘floating’ torii gate as at high tide, due to pillars holding it above the sea, it appears to be unattached to land whereas as low tide people can actually walk out to it.

Its particular architectural style is called Shinden Zukuri and it is said to have been first built in 593, with the present shrine pavilions constructed in 1168. The vermilion-coloured main building creates a striking and attractive contrast with the backdrop of the blue sea and the island’s verdant mountains and in true Japanese style the complex blends effortlessly with and into Nature.

UNESCO decided to name this shrine a World Heritage Site, because it is a, "Supreme example of this form of religious centre, setting traditional architecture of great artistic and technical merit against a dramatic natural background and thereby creating a work of art of incomparable physical beauty."