Japan/Honshu: Itsukushima Shrine & Floating Tori
Swarms of people come to visit the Itsukushima Shrine and stare and take selfies in front of its giant Floating Tori Gate – almost any tourism brochure of Japan features this site and location. The shrines itself is less spectacular and very religiously and culturally significant a built in 593 AD. In Japanese, the word Itsukushima translates to “island dedicated to the gods”, the island itself is a god, and the shrine stand on the outskirts, and the floating torii guards the entrance. The torii itself is accessible at low tide, and appears floating in the water at high tide; it was built out of decay-resistance camphor wood and stands 16m high. It’s a bit of human zoo overall, crowds visiting the temple and photographing the torii, plus there are tons of souvenirs shops, small restaurants and free-roaming deer everywhere.
