• The reason why the large spatula is displayed on the shopping street.
• Create your own “shamoji postcard” in Miyajima!
• Map

The reason why the large spatula is displayed on the shopping street.

You’ll notice that there are many spatulas sold on the Omotesando shopping street. The world’s largest spatula is displayed in the middle of this shopping street. It is 7.7-meters tall, 2.7-meters wide, and weighs 2.5 tons! In Japan, we use the spatula to scoop rice. The common spatula is about 21cm, so you get the idea of how large the one on display is. In fact, Miyajima is the birthplace of shamoji. Around 1800, the monk, Seishin at Shinsen-ji Temple saw the god, Benzaiten in a dream. The creation of shamoji is said to be the shape of Benzaiten’s biwa (flute). Seishin taught people on the island how to make spatulas out of sacred wood. It is also said that eating rice scooped with the shamoji made of sacred wood from Miyajima brings you fortune. The large spatula on the shopping street was made in 1983 as a symbol of it’s birthplace. To celebrate the designation of Itsukushima as a world heritage site in 1996, this spatula was put on display.

Create your own “shamoji postcard” in Miyajima!

You can actually make your own postcard out of a spatula at a workshop at Miyajima Hatsukaichi Taiken Kankou.

You stamp your favorite scenery from 4 available options on the spatula. You can draw anything you’d like on it, but remember that you can also use 5 other available stamps that’ll create one picture, if you stamp them in the correct order. It is so much fun to see what you get after stamping all 5 stamps!

You can mail the spatula to someone special from from Miyajima post office. Because the spatula represents good fortune, it’s good to send it to someone you care about as a small surprise. You can also choose to bring it home with you too.

Map

589−2, Miyajima-Kitanocho-hama, Htsukaichi city, Hiroshima Pref.