Travel in Japan
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Ise Mairi – Visiting Japan’s Holy Land
Japan has a spiritual sanctuary that was once a must-visit site for pilgrims. It is located in Ise City in Mie Prefecture, about 100 kilometers south from Nagoya. Generally it is called “Ise Shrine” and it is worshiped by people as the head shrine of Shinto. This is the shrine in which Amaterasu-Oomikami, a god described in Japanese myth is enshrined. Amaterasu-Oomikami is a deification of the sun and has been said to be the ancestor of the Imperial Family.
Getting off at JR Iseshi Station, the main gateway to the shrine, you can take one of the buses departing from near the station to get to the inner part of the shrine. The journey takes 15 minutes through streets lined with stone lanterns. The bus terminates right in front of the entrance of Ise Shrine. Going through the big torii (shrine gateway) and passing over the wooden bridge, you will enter a world of green. To the main shrine, it will take about a 10-minute walk along a gravel approach.
Giant aged trees give the shrine an air of holiness and mystery. Passing through Kaguraden (hall for special prayers) you will arrive at a dead end in front of the main shrine. In fact, this is the gateway to the main shrine. Here visitors pray by throwing money into the money box, but they are not allowed to enter further.
However, you can glance at the main shrine from the side of the gate. It was built in a surprisingly simple style considering it is a historical shrine where an ancestor of the Imperial Family is enshrined. The main shrine is also known for being constructed without the use of nails. The present building is scheduled to be reconstructed at a neighboring site in 2013. The main shrine is rebuilt every 20 years, alternating between two sites.
Time slip to the Edo Era
Outside the shrine’s grounds there is an area called “Okage Yokocho” (Thanks Alley) where it feels as if time has slipped back to the Edo period (1603-1868). Here there are many restaurants serving local specialties such as Ise noodles and lobster, and shops selling local products including the famous Akafuku dumpling. Also many street performers compete with each other, while people enjoy catching goldfish and shooting games.
Okageza (the shrine’s history museum) in Okage Yokocho displays a reduced-scale Ise Town, where you can see how a shrine visit was like in the Edo period. Back then, visiting Ise was extremely popular and people came from all over the country. It is said that in some years over 10% of the population would visit Ise.
At the time women could not travel freely, but being able to visit Ise was an exception. Though lots of money was required for the journey, a system called “o-Ise-kou” made it possible. Fellows provided money and decided who would go by lottery. The winner visited the shrine as their representative.
It is told that people on the route offered food, zouri (straw sandals) and baths to people traveling to Ise, which was then a once-in-a-lifetime journey for common people. After worshiping, they drank sake and ate delicious foods, as well as watching shows and being entertained by women. “Tokaidochu hizakurige” by JIPPENSHA Ikku, which described commoners visiting Ise in the Edo period, was a best-selling book of the time.
A journey back to ancient Japan
It took 30 days on foot from Edo (present-day Tokyo) to Ise in the Edo period. Now you can get there in around three hours (using the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Nagoya and the JR or Kintetsu express from Nagoya to Ise). If you take the Kintetsu Line, you get off at Uji-yamada Station near JR Ise Station or Kintesu Isuzugawa Station (closer to the inner shrine). Bus services are available from these stations to the inner shrine.
Many different people visit Ise, from young to old and men to women, as well as overseas tourists. Ise Shrine has an inner shrine and an outer shrine. Official visits must begin at the outer shrine and then take in the inner shrine. To the outer shrine, it takes only 5 or 7 minutes to walk from JR Iseshi Station. Similar to the inner shrine, it is covered by deep green that creates a peaceful atmosphere. Visiting Ise is like a journey back to ancient Japan.
(From September Issue 2008)
