JapanGuides.net
Grand Shrine of Ise (Ise Jingu) is Japan’s Foremost Shinto Shrine, with its two-thousand year history, is Japan’s most important Shinto shrine and serves as the center of all shrines nationwide. Situated near the banks of the Isuzu River, the shrine is surrounded by 800-year-old Ise Grand Shrine cedars. The smooth pebble-lined approach to the shrine lends the site a majestic air. Ise Grand Shrine consists of the Outer Shrine and Inner Shrine.
With over 2,000 years of history, the Grand Shrine of Ise is the most sacred of Japan’s Shinto shrines. The complex comprises an inner shrine, an outer shrine and 123 other shrines.
Jingu is often introduced in the dictionary as “Ise Jingu.” However, the official name is “Jingu” without “Ise.” Jingu is principally composed of the Naiku where Amaterasu Omikami, the ancestral kami of the Imperial Family, is worshiped, and Geku where Toyouke Omikami, the kami of agriculture and industry, is worshiped.
The sanctuary of the Inner Shrine is built in the oldest of Japan’s sacred architectural styles, “Yuiitsushinmei-zukuri.” Amaterasu-Omikami, the Sun Goddess who is enshrined in the Inner Shrine, is considered to be the earliest ancestor of the Japanese Imperial family. Enshrined in the Outer Shrine is Toyouke-no-omikami the guardian deity for the food provided to the Sun Goddess. The tradition of transferring the god to a new shrine next to in a ceremony “Shikinen Sengu” held once every 20 years has continued for 1,300 years.
Outer Shrine (Geku): Five-minute walk from JR or Kintetsu Ise-shi stations. Inner Shrine (Naiku): Fifteen minutes by bus from JR or Kintetsu Ise-shi stations or from the Kintetsu Uji-Yamada station.
Address and Contact:
Grand Shrine of Ise (Ise Jingu) Ujitachi-cho, Ise City (Ise-shi) TEL: 0596-24-1111 FAX: 0596-27-0520
Website: http://www.isejingu.or.jp/english/
