Tuesday in Ise

Today we went to Ise. The city itself wasn't too exciting, but we did manage to go to a nice, active little downtown area. It was essentially a street lined with vendors and little shops full of everything you could imagine....lots of food though. I got what was essentially a hash brown on a stick, a beef bun, and some ice cream, all of which was delicious, but sounds very fatty now that I read it.

In terms of architecture, we visited the Ise Shrines, which are the most sacred Shinto shrines in Japan. They are the most sacred because they have the strongest tie to the Imperial family of Japan.

First, we went to the outer shrine (Geku) which was nice because you can see a little deeper into the compound. It was really interesting to see the hierarchy of the little shrines and the different ways that the sacred areas are denoted. The buildings themselves seem to relate to most native architecture, such as some types of Native American buildings. They are supported by thick wood posts and beams, with wood-cladded walls and thickly thatched roofs. (pictured to come)

Sacred areas are marked off by simple, thin rope with white paper tied to them. This is just to make the sacred areas visible to the people, but the areas themselves were considered sacred before they were marked off. Along the wood fences that line the different areas within the compound there are also very green leaves, but I don't know what they signify.

In the most sacred areas, like the main shrine, there are no pictures allowed, but I think some people were able to sneak a few, so I'll have to try to get them and post them for you. It is really a procession of gateways and buildings that appear simple, but I have never seen the inside of them because only very select few people are allowed to enter them (like the Emperor)

The pillars and columns in the compound are of particular importance. They are made of solid wood, harvested out of the mountains. These posts serve much more of a spiritual purpose than a structural one, since many of them are not even needed structurally anymore. Especially the posts at either end of the gable thatched roof, supporting the main beam of the gable, are no longer structural, but are still considered very important to the shrines.

Pillars or columns are though to hold religious or spiritual meaning in and of themselves. They are tied to the idea of God throughout Japanese mythology. We did a reading on it that tells how the original man and woman built a pillar to heaven and that their daughter eventually ascended into heaven by way of this pillar. The words used to count people and gods are closely related to the word for pillar or column. This helps to tie together the idea that gods would reside in the pillars and that they have a strong relationship with man. It seems like the column itself almost becomes a spiritual entity and is at least respected, if not worshipped to some level.

We also went to the inner shrine (Naiku), which is more sacred. The grounds were beautiful and the shrines were very similar to the outer shrines. We were lucky because we got so see some of a ritual. There was a woman there who got to enter the compound and went through a ritual with a priest who then led her into the next level/ring of the compound where she was allowed to worship and pray. It was really interesting witnessing this ritual that has existed for so many years, and realizing that this woman must be someone important to even be allowed to enter that area. Unfortunately, my camera died on our way up to the main inner shrine, so I will have to depend on Jeff's pictures.

Watching people worship there was also interesting. They would approach a shrine, toss in some yen and then clap their hands twice, bringing them together near their chests for prayer. Then they would bow a few times. We saw people doing this at multiple shrines, always performing the same ritual.

After we walked through the inner compound, we wandered through the downtown shopping area a bit more, but after about an hour we were all ready to head home. The train ride was 2 hours there, and 2 hours back, but I think it was worth it.

When we got back to Kyoto, we went to the chinese food place for dinner and had some pot stickers, chicken, rice and, of course, biiru. It was necessary after such a long day. Now I am going to go review some Japanese before our class at 9 tomorrow morning, and head to sleep.

So goodnight, and pictures will soon follow.