Miyajima History and Folklore Museum: Exhibition Room D
Exhibition Room D is a modern two-story building with exhibits focused on both the history of Itsukushima Shrine from the twelfth century onward and on artwork and other imagery related to Miyajima.
The first floor is dedicated to Itsukushima Shrine and Taira no Kiyomori (1118–1181), the powerful political figure of the Heian period who played a key part in introducing the aristocratic culture of Kyoto to Miyajima and greatly raised the shrine’s profile among the capital’s elite. Kiyomori’s exploits and Miyajima’s dramatic history are detailed in a video subtitled in English. Other displays connect Miyajima to events in the Tale of the Heike, the epic account of the late-twelfth-century conflict between Kiyomori’s Taira clan and the rival Minamoto clan.
The exhibition on the second floor highlights paintings, maps, photographs, guidebooks, and other documents with a connection to Miyajima. Most of these are from the Edo period (1603–1868) and include detailed, map-like depictions of the island painted on folding screens, materials related to kabuki plays performed on Miyajima in the Edo period, and ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) and his twentieth-century successor Kawase Hasui (1883–1957).