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The Magnificent Floating Shrine, Itsukushima Shinto Shrine.

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Mijajima is an island 31 km in circumference in Hiroshima Bay in the Seto Island Sea.

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It has been an object of veneration since ancient times.

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The Itsukushima Shrine was built here about 800 years ago.

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General Taira no Kiyomori erected and dedicated the shrine to the glory of the Taira clan in 1168, towards the end of the Heian era.

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With beautiful green vegetation as a backdrop, the red-painted shrine juts outwards, creating a remarkable landscape.

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A shrine floating on the sea.

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The buildings are connected by a series of long-roofed corridors.

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The pillars supporting the building are prone to water erosion.

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The entire complex emerges when the tide is out.

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Approximately 160 meters from the honden, or main sanctuary, is the otori.

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16-meter-high pillars constructed from Japanese camphor tree trunks make up the entrance.

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Reverence of the Itsukushima Shrine by the Taira clan is said to have begun when Taira no Kiyomori was appointed the governor of Aki.

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At the height of Taira glory, Kiyomori spent lavishly on compiling and dedicating scriptures to the shrine.

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There are 32 volumes of scriptures of the Lotus Sutra and the Heart Sutra, hand-copied by members of the Taira clan.

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Together with his own writings of his wishes, Taira no Kiyomori himself presented the dedications to the shrine.

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Kiyomori is said to have read the sutras intensively, praying for the lasting glory of his clan, dying a peaceful death and going to paradise.

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The Shinto priests appear in the roofed corridors in the morning.

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After purifying themselves, they would offer their prayers and attend to their duties.

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Just four years after Kiyomori's death, the Taira clan clashed with the Genji clan in the Battle of Danuura.

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The Taira clan perished in the waters of the Seto Inland Sea.

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The shrine today quietly sits on those same waters.