And it didn’t hit home for me that Miyajima and Itsukushima were ... until it dawned on me that “shrine island” is what many people call the place listed on maps as “strict island.” ...

The island of Itsukushima, in the Seto inland sea, has been a holy place of Shintoism since the earliest times. The first shrine buildings here were probably erected in the 6th century. The present ...