Itsukushima Shrine

Before you go

• Floating halls and a walk to the gate depend on the tide's height, not simply on "high" or "low" tide: the halls appear to float only when the sea is above 250 cm, and you can walk to the Great Torii only when it is below 100 cm, which on some days it never is. So check the Miyajima Tourist Association's tide table for your date, and its home page, which lists each day's floating hours. Even with the tide in, a ro-kai rowing boat by day or a sightseeing boat at night takes you close to the gate.
• The beach cannot be reached from inside the shrine: stairs lead down at Mikasa-hama on the entrance side and Nishi-matsubara on the exit side, and on the way a steep ramp drops to the water's edge. A stroller cannot cross the wet sand, so leave it on the sidewalk or carry it folded. The flats are wet and full of crushed shells, so bring sandals and spare socks; a first-grader soaked his shoes and socks, and his family bought new socks on the shopping street. Some people wade knee-deep to the gate, which looked dangerous to one visitor.
• Crowds build quickly: by Tourist Association staff's experience, weekday mornings until 10:00 are quietest, midday brings over five times as many visitors, and weekends and holidays up to twice as many as weekdays, so see the shrine and the Great Torii before 10:00. Peak crowds come at cherry-blossom time (late March to early April), in November and in the first week of January, and Obon is busy too; during the Silver Week holidays a family queued 400–500 meters to enter the main hall, and in December 2025 a family waited about 30 minutes for a goshuin, the shrine's handwritten stamp.
• A blog says a ramp at the entrance lets strollers in, though in 2014 a family met short steps and a steep slope near the entrance and carried the stroller separately. Past the hall entrance, the floor is flat wooden boards a wheelchair can move along. The corridor boards have gaps as a guard against storm surges: wheels rattle over them but, since you mostly cross the boards, rarely catch, while heels can, so wear comfortable shoes. The passages are narrow and can get crowded, so a baby is often easier carried, and the railings are low enough for a quick toddler to climb, so keep watch. Seeing it all means about 1 km of walking, and repairs may change the view: the East Corridor's reinforcement runs to December 2026 and the five-story pagoda's restoration to November 2027 (both planned).
• The shrine's nursing room is for paying visitors only, in a room marked 授乳室 inside the women's restroom further along. Whether there is a diaper table is unclear: one blog's table marks none, another blogger places it in the women's restroom, and nothing is said about the men's side. A blogger also found one restroom in the grounds, with a multipurpose toilet and three steps in front; the way to the nursing room is a gentle slope with a handrail on one side, and the multipurpose toilet's own door slides open with no step. A wheelchair-accessible toilet, for visitors only, stands in a separate building within the corridors. Island nursing rooms get very crowded, so the Tourist Association suggests feeding beforehand. The Miyajima ferry terminal restroom (out of the exit, on the left) has a nursing room and diaper table, and the TOTO Miyajima Omotenashi Toilet on the shopping street, about 5 minutes' walk from the pier (toilets 9:00–21:00), has a nursing room, diaper changing and a children's toilet.
• From Hiroshima Station, JR trains reach Miyajimaguchi in about 30 minutes, a step-free underground passage with two elevators leads to the ferry terminal, and the ferry takes about 10 minutes; the shrine has no parking. JR Miyajimaguchi Station is about a 5-minute walk from the Miyajimaguchi pier, and two companies, JR and Matsudai, run the ferries; the shrine notes that typhoon damage or ferry cancellations in bad weather can stop its ceremonies and events. JR's Nanaura-maru and Miyajima-maru have a barrier-free room on the lower deck you can board with a stroller. On a 2014 visit, before such ships were added, one family found the cabins up steep stairs and stayed on the vehicle deck. JR sailings leaving Miyajimaguchi from 9:10 to 16:10 pass near the Great Torii at no extra charge, except on days of bad weather or storm surges (unusually high seas). The shrine is about a 10-minute walk from the pier, partly on gravel and sand: one family found it a little hard with a stroller and another had no trouble, and the stretch lined with souvenir shops is paved. At busy times that main shopping street is too packed for a stroller, so use Machiya-dori, one street back. Deer come for souvenir bags, pamphlets and snacks, walk up to strollers and must not be fed, so keep food and paper out of sight; there are no trash bins, so use those in buildings and shops. Droppings dirty wheels, so a rental may be easier: Miyajima Tourist Information has rented strollers since March 18, 2026 (¥500 for the first hour, then ¥100 per 30 minutes, up to ¥1,500 for 12 hours; desk staffed 9:00–18:00).
• Admission is ¥300 for adults, ¥200 for high-school students and ¥100 for elementary and junior-high students, with no fee listed for preschoolers; the combined ticket with the Treasure Hall (¥500, ¥300 and ¥150) is sold only at the shrine entrance. The Treasure Hall is open every day, 8:00–17:00, and its admission cannot be paid by credit card (coupons from partner operators are accepted). Senjokaku (Toyokuni Shrine) is open 8:30–16:30 all year and costs ¥100 for adults and ¥50 for elementary and junior-high students, with no coupons or credit cards; it is reached by stairs, so not by wheelchair. The shrine opens every day: 6:30–18:00 from March 1 to October 14, 6:30–17:30 from October 15 to November 30 and from January 4 to the end of February, and 6:30–17:00 in December, with 0:00–18:30 on January 1 and 6:30–18:30 on January 2 and 3. The shrine and the Great Torii are lit up from 30 minutes after sunset until 23:00 (except one or two days a year), but you cannot go inside then, and one visitor found shops on the shopping street closing around 17:00.