Itsukushima Shrine
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How it came to be
The island of Itsukushima in the Seto Inland Sea has been a holy place of Shinto since the earliest times, the island itself treated as sacred. According to UNESCO the first shrine buildings were probably put up in the 6th century. The halls stand at the water's edge with Mount Misen behind them, so that building, sea and mountain read as one scene.
The shrine flourished in the 12th century, and in 1168 Taira no Kiyomori, then governor of Aki Province, made large donations to the shrine. Kiyomori and his clan dedicated 32 scrolls of sutras decorated with gold, silver and mother-of-pearl, known as the Heike Nokyo. In 1571 the warlord Mori Motonari rebuilt the main hall.
The present great torii standing in the sea dates from 1875 and is made of camphor wood. In 1996 the shrine was inscribed as a World Heritage site covering 17 buildings and three other structures. In 2004 a typhoon broke its boardwalks and roofs and closed it for a time.
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