Miyajima and Kangensai Festival

This post is long overdue, since I've been pretty busy with work and adjusting to life here in Japan. I also got a promotion recently at my job, so I've also been busy learning the ropes in my new position. Anyway, I went to the Kangensai Ceremony on July 27th, so almost two months ago now. It is held every year on Miyajima, also known as Crazy Deer Island. They just wander all over the island, completely at ease with all the people.. I saw one stick its head in some lady's purse to chew on a bag they had some food in. The guy with her ended up giving the chewed-up contents to the deer, which then went back for more. He ended up wrestling it away by the horns. When I bought chicken on a stick at one of the food vendors, I ended up with a new friend following me like a crazed stalker. Just watch the video below to get a small taste of how bold they are:

The Kangensai Festival is essentially a religious-type ceremony where they load a portable shrine on a boat, play some music, and the boat sails around Miyajima, stopping at several different temples along the way. I only saw the opening part, since I had to work the next day and couldn't stay that long. For more information about what it entails and the history of the ceremony: http://www.miyajima.or.jp/english/event/event_kangen.html.

I took a bunch of pictures and some short video of the opening part of the ceremony. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't capture sound when you shoot videos. I might be looking into a new one that offers that feature, since I think the sound is an important part of the experience. Any suggestions?

The first video is of the shrine on the boat. The second video is of the accompanying boat pulling up alongside the main boat. The guy waving the sticks was also chanting, but obviously you won't be able to hear it.

After the boat set off, I wandered the island a bit more. I went inside the shrine and took some pictures of interesting things inside. You're actually not allowed to take pictures of the priests or their attendants in the shrine for some reason. I'm not sure if that's the case at every shrine in Japan or not. I did take pictures of the fortune drawing chest, where you are allowed to draw a stick with a number on it for a small donation to the shrine. Then you can take one of the fortunes from the numbered drawer and apparently tie it around some wire in another section of the shrine. According to Wikipedia, this practice is called O-mikuji.

After checking out the shrine, I went to find the pagoda that I had seen while walking around earlier, hoping to check it out up close. Unfortunately, when I got there, it became obvious that no one can actually go inside.

After that, it was getting late, so I headed back to the ferry terminal and said goodbye to Miyajima for the day. I will probably go again sometime, since the ticket I bought to go into the shrine also included a ticket to visit the Treasury Hall on Miyajima, which was closed by the time I got done there. Miyajima also has an aquarium that I would like to visit. There are also several other things there that might be worth seeing, so I'll probably end up taking a few trips there during my stay here.