Surrounded by a stone army of hippie buddha monks! - Miyajima [JAPAN]

The historical structures are definitely impressive and we spend a sufficient amount of time and attention to it. But actually we have been much more excited and enthused about the lawn-gnome-like mini monks at the Buddhist temple Daishō-in ( 大聖院) which we found near the bushes, in a flower bucket or next to a house. These statues shall bring luck, fortune and happiness. The visitors – so called pilgrim – put in some coins by a ritual next to, above, around or just on the figure to receive this luck energy.

The funny manikin were by all means just about the limit with their knitted bonnets in the garish and glaring colors. And soon we had a little collection about the hippie monks on camera. No worries, there have been just a few. But on the way to the following temple buildings on the way up to the 535 meter high Mount Misen (弥山) we found again some more. Once started with this habit of collecting the pics you have to keep on going with the process. And this completely and thoroughly! Who could know that the whole mountain is cobbled with these little stone dwarfs…

Therefore we took a lot of photographs but after a while we had to switch the portrait pictures to the group photos. Eventually there have been troops and armies alongside the pilgrim walkways. All of them nicely suited with the knitted hats in an as well systematic colored arrangement. Wonderful! Additionally the nature of the island is beautiful and a perfectly welcoming for a hiking day. The center of the island is completely covered with forest, below the north side there is even virgin forest and jungle.

Article with more photographs, interviews, videos, maps and information on the Vagabundler website: http://vagabundler.com/the-map/countries/japan/buddha-monks-miyajima/