From Omoto Park up the mountain

After breakfast on Miyajima, we started by exploring Omoto Park next door. It was a decent sized park, and seems to be where a number of the island's deer spend the night.

Inside the park is Omoto Shrine. It's not certaim, but this one might have existed since the 1400s.

The horse statues creepy me out a little

Next, we headed along a path through the woods towards the two Storied Pagoda. Of course, it wouldn't be Japan if we didn't have to climb up a lot of stairs.

Despite what seemed to be pending rain (there was a typhoon heading towards Japan) the walk was very pleasant.

There were some great views.

The large brown roof is my favorite place on the island 

Despite the blue skies in the photo, it was pretty dreary over us

And the whole island, even the mountain paths, were very well maintained and marked.

The pagoda was nice, but was just a rest stop on my way up to a larger temple. Though it has in the past, nothing is currently enshrined at the pagoda.