Mount Misen

photo by OS6 · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by KimonBerlin · CC BY-SA 2.0

The flame lit by Kūkai in 806 is still burning: the fire of 20/05/2026 razed only the hall.

At the summit of Miyajima's sacred mountain (535 metres) stood the Hall of the Eternal Fire (霊火堂), whose cauldron produces water credited with healing powers: on 20 May 2026 a fire destroyed it entirely (not for the first time, after another blaze in 2005), but the flame was saved by moving its embers elsewhere, as had been done then; the head of Daishō-in temple, which manages it, estimates 1.5–2 years to rebuild it. Around it, the virgin forest covering the mountain is a buffer zone of the Itsukushima UNESCO site, and from the top you can see the islands of the Seto Inland Sea.

Sacred mountain in the centre of the island of Miyajima, opened to worship, according to tradition, by Kūkai in 806, when he carried out a hundred-day retreat there: since then the flame of the Hall of the Eternal Fire has been handed down as the one he lit on that occasion, tended for centuries.

ℹ️ The Miyajima Ropeway goes almost to the summit; from there a path leads to the top in about 30 minutes, or you can climb on foot from the bottom in 1.5–2 hours. The Hall of the Eternal Fire was destroyed by the fire of 20/05/2026 and is being rebuilt: check its status before counting on a visit to that specific building.

🚉 Shishiiwa · 13 min walk

Sources: news.livedoor.com · news.yahoo.co.jp · hakkenkurashi.com

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