Ise Jingu Hatsumode 2009

On January 2nd we had the highlight of our trip to Mie Prefecture. On that day we all got into our cars and headed to Ise (Hiroko's mom had a cold so she stayed behind). As we approached Ise, the cars began to back up. The police were herding all of the cars towards the "Sun Arena", a sports stadium built back in 1993 for that year's world expo. It took us a good hour to finally get to the stadium's parking lot. There we saw about 20 tour buses with more coming in behind them to pick up the lines of people waiting in the parking lot. As each bus filled up, another one lined up at the beginning of the line to pick up more people from the parking lot and drop them off at the entrance to the Ise Shrines.

The Ise shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu, the supposed first mother of all the emperors of Japan. In the Shinto religion the story goes that she was upset that a brother had burned her fields and this drove her into a cave. Since she was the sun goddess the earth turned dark. The people tried having a festival outside the cave to coax her out. Eventually she was finally brought out from curiosity by seeing her own reflection in a mirror. This mirror is housed within the Ise shrine. Of course, we all being mere mortals, only the emperor is permitted to go all the way into the shrine to see the mirror. Ise shrine is the only shrine that still practices the Shinto tradition of rebuilding the shrine every 20 years. I was fortunate to live in Mie back when they built up another shrine next to the older shrine. The emperor then came from Tokyo in a grand ceremony to bring the mirror to the other shrine. Ise shrine is also unique in that it was so important to the Japanese that it was the one place that foreigners were still not allowed to visit after the Treaty of Kanagawa between the USA and Japan in the mid 1800's.

Once we arrived at the entrance to the shrine (a large tori gate and a bridge that leads into the shrine grounds), we headed into Okageyokocho. This area was popular as a resting stop for pilgrims all over Japan who came to Ise Jingu. The residence believed that there would be good luck for their home if they served these visitors and gave them free lodging and food. Although the restaurants are no longer free, they still look much the way they did back then. The whole area is just as it would have appeared back in the 17th and 18th century. It was here that I was able to take a great picture of a rainbow that appeared over the crowds going through the town.

After a great lunch of marinated tuna sushi over rice and giant fried shrimp, we headed to the Ise shrine itself. The walk is long through the forest. The cedars, hundreds of years old, have grown huge along the gravel path. I love visiting here because, as I walk towards the shrine the forest is so quiet you begin to think about how you arrived at this instance of your life. I have told Japanese people about this feeling, and I am not alone. When we arrived fairly close to the stairs leading up to the shrine we were greeted by the mass of humanity waiting for their turn to make a wish for the new year. From that point, it was a good hour before we arrived at the top.

Afterwards, we headed to a gyoza (pot stickers) restaurant in Ise that we like to visit. Their the kids were able to enjoy fried chicken and gyoza for dinner. We were exhausted but it was a great experience.