Ise Jingu - Home of Amaterasu
Today, I travelled to Ise to visit the most important Shinto temple in Japan, that of Amaterasu. Again, not the unquenchable black flames of the Uchiha brothers, but one of the primary deity, or omi-kami, of Shintoism, the sun Goddess. She is said to dwell here, after requesting that her shrine be moved from Kyoto to a more secluded location. The Japanese imperial family were said to be directly descended from her, and one of the reasons why Japan identifies itself so much with the sun.
In fact, the day after the second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki when the Emperor announced that Japan had surrendered in WWII the shock for the Japanese people must have been three fold; firstly at the spectacular understatement of the explanation “that the war had developed in a manner no longer in Japan’s best interests”, secondly that they were hearing the voice of their head of state for the first time in their history and lastly that he also renounced his divine lineage.
The temple is actually in two parts, the Outer and Inner Shrines, which are separated by about 15 km. The outer shrine is dedicated to the kami of food and industry, Toyouke, but there is also a shrine to Amaterasu’s heavenly brother Tsukiyomi, who once again is not the mindfuck jutsu you might think of. Here Amaterasu’s meals are prepared, from items grown on a scared plot of land, and offered to Toyouke to pass on. The inner shrine is much the same on and bigger scale, with a river running through the grounds, and a pool where people used to throw mirrors, the symbol of Amatarasu’s power, and where she actually is said to be.
Like all major Shinto shrines, they are set in an area of woodland, and the buildings themselves are very simple, made of unvarnished wood, grass thatch and a few gold details. The style is purely Japanese, with absolutely no Chinese influence at all. The apex of the roof has a number of round beams across it, parallel with the ground, and at each end there is an extended beam that continues the slopes of the roof up a meter or so. Moss covers a lot of the roof and while it appears to be ancient, it is in fact only 17 years old - every 20 years the entire structure is rebuilt using virgin cypress timbers, using the exact same design and techniques than have been passed down for thousands of years. This is to re-purify the site, and the old timbers are distributed to other shrines around the country to be reused.
The actual focus of the shrine is kept shuttered away, and you cannot even approach the structure that houses it, instead being held by a gate house and even further fence ringing it from a distance of 30 or so meters. Only the Shinto priests are able to able to in this area, and what they do there has never really been fully explained, I believe it has to do with making offering to the god and ritual purifications by burning things. In fact the whole Shinto shrine experience can be a little bit of anti-climax if you are too focused on the actual item housed, or even the main shrine its self. There is no writing, or art work anywhere on the complex buildings, short of a few Japanese Imperial symbols, and no written explanations or even anything to indicate that this is Amatarasu’s, rather than another kami’s. The real attraction is in the significance of the place, and enjoying the walk through the ancient forest to get there.
It is much harder to write a 101 style guide for Shintoism, as it is much more a collection of myths, superstitions and secret practices - however I am thinking of writting a bit of explaination of where various cultural inspirations for various bits of Naruto have come from, both Buddhist, Shinto and from Japanese history/legend, so this will probably cover some of this.
PICCATURES! I choose YOU!
In fact, the day after the second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki when the Emperor announced that Japan had surrendered in WWII the shock for the Japanese people must have been three fold; firstly at the spectacular understatement of the explanation “that the war had developed in a manner no longer in Japan’s best interests”, secondly that they were hearing the voice of their head of state for the first time in their history and lastly that he also renounced his divine lineage.
The temple is actually in two parts, the Outer and Inner Shrines, which are separated by about 15 km. The outer shrine is dedicated to the kami of food and industry, Toyouke, but there is also a shrine to Amaterasu’s heavenly brother Tsukiyomi, who once again is not the mindfuck jutsu you might think of. Here Amaterasu’s meals are prepared, from items grown on a scared plot of land, and offered to Toyouke to pass on. The inner shrine is much the same on and bigger scale, with a river running through the grounds, and a pool where people used to throw mirrors, the symbol of Amatarasu’s power, and where she actually is said to be.
Like all major Shinto shrines, they are set in an area of woodland, and the buildings themselves are very simple, made of unvarnished wood, grass thatch and a few gold details. The style is purely Japanese, with absolutely no Chinese influence at all. The apex of the roof has a number of round beams across it, parallel with the ground, and at each end there is an extended beam that continues the slopes of the roof up a meter or so. Moss covers a lot of the roof and while it appears to be ancient, it is in fact only 17 years old - every 20 years the entire structure is rebuilt using virgin cypress timbers, using the exact same design and techniques than have been passed down for thousands of years. This is to re-purify the site, and the old timbers are distributed to other shrines around the country to be reused.
The actual focus of the shrine is kept shuttered away, and you cannot even approach the structure that houses it, instead being held by a gate house and even further fence ringing it from a distance of 30 or so meters. Only the Shinto priests are able to able to in this area, and what they do there has never really been fully explained, I believe it has to do with making offering to the god and ritual purifications by burning things. In fact the whole Shinto shrine experience can be a little bit of anti-climax if you are too focused on the actual item housed, or even the main shrine its self. There is no writing, or art work anywhere on the complex buildings, short of a few Japanese Imperial symbols, and no written explanations or even anything to indicate that this is Amatarasu’s, rather than another kami’s. The real attraction is in the significance of the place, and enjoying the walk through the ancient forest to get there.
It is much harder to write a 101 style guide for Shintoism, as it is much more a collection of myths, superstitions and secret practices - however I am thinking of writting a bit of explaination of where various cultural inspirations for various bits of Naruto have come from, both Buddhist, Shinto and from Japanese history/legend, so this will probably cover some of this.
PICCATURES! I choose YOU!