Day 6 - Kyoto, Hiroshima and Miyajima

This morning, we went to the Nishi Hongwanji temple in Kyoto. We took a tour of the whole area. This temple is also the head temple and is called Ryukoku-zan Hongwanji. It is the mother temple and headquarters of Judo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha. The Judo Shinshu teachings were established by Shinran Shonin. We took a tour of the Amidado (Hall of Amida Buddha),Goeido (Founder's Hall) ,Ryukoden (Confirmation Ceremony) and the Karamon (National Treasure) buildings. Our tour guide taught us that Buddha is leaning forward because he/she is compassionate and always wants to help. Inside, we saw many rooms like guest and special rooms just for meetings. The interesting part of the tour was seeing the paintings on the walls and the rock garden. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures of the garden. Outside, we went to see the national treasure which is called Karamon. Overall, visiting the Nishi Hongwanji temple and learning the history of it, was a great experience.

The next half of the day was even more exciting. We headed out onto the bullet train to Hiroshima. The ride was 1 hour and 40 minutes long, and was filled with lots of good sleep. When we woke up, our journey continued with an hour long bus ride to the ferry that would take us to the very sacred island of Miyajima. Here, we were able to explore the beautiful town. It was filled with many shops, that carried a variety of items. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but some of us left to go back to the hotel early. After all of this, we had a very filling Japanese style meal with sashimi, meat, oysters and many more delectable foods. This hotel houses an onsen (hot spring bath), and some of us went into it. The ones that did, experienced a much needed relaxing soak. It felt cleansing and we left with a smile on our faces. :) Last but not least, there was an exciting taiko show. Not only was it free, but it was really loud. The taiko players were workers at the hotel. It was exhilarating and fun to watch.

By Tevan and Nicholas

"Picture time"

Nishi Hongwanji

On the ferry to Miyajima Island

Dinner :)

Haley, Margaux, and Kaci

Akira, Jakob, Tevan, and Cole in their yukatas