Ise

Last weekend, I had the chance to do a little sightseeing, this time in Ise city in Mie prefecture, a couple of hours south of Nagoya by train, on the west coast of the Ise-wan (Ise Bay). A beautiful place, and so much more comfortable than the big city. I've learned the hard way that Nagoya is one of the hottest places in Japan - only now is the temperature starting to drop below 30C at night! Ise and neighbouring Toba are fairly pint-sized cities, and everywhere else around there is about as inaka as it gets, but that means great scenery and ripening rice fields waving in the breeze...

So, as you've probably anticipated by now, I have some pics...



This first one is just to prove that I'm really here, and not just hiding in a basement in Sydney somewhere, posting pics stolen off the internet. ;) Hehehe



Of course, Ise is famous for only one thing, Ise Jingu, but what a thing to be famous for! This shrine is said to be 2000 years old, although the structures here are torn down and rebuilt every twenty years, a tradition which is apparently documented for the last 1500 years. According to the pamphlets, the reason for this is that this shrine, being a Jingu, is the dwelling-place of not just any kami, but the Sun-goddess Amaterasu herself, progenitor of the Imperial family, and foremost of the Shinto pantheon. Consequently, Ise is perhaps the holiest place in all of Japan, and of course, being such a holy place, you're not allowed to take pictures of the area inside the enclosure - they even have guards there to discourage you from even thinking about it! In any case, the theory goes, that with such a close connection to the Imperial family, every time an Emperor died, the shrine had to be destroyed and rebuilt as part of the funeral process, and to avoid any ghosts hanging around - apparently even Imperial ghosts are bad news...



A closer look at the entrance, nicely framed by some 500 year old cypress trees. This compound is part of the Geku (outer shrine), home of Toyooke no Oomikami, Goddess of Agriculture and Industry, and guardian of Amaterasu's food offerings.



This little shrine is home to Tsuchi no Miya no Kami, protector of the Geku grounds.



The hordes of tourists crossing the Ujibashi into the Naiku (Inner Shrine).



The view from the bridge...



Up the steps to the main shrine...



As I mentioned before, you're not allowed to take pictures, or even look at the inner sanctum. Only the Emperor and a few select priests can do that. Apparently, it also houses the Yata no Kagami (sacred mirror), one of the three Imperial Treasures. The other two are the sacred beads at the Imperial Palace and the sacred sword at Atsuta Jingu (in one of the southern suburbs of Nagoya). I can scarcely imagine what sort of kick-ass powers you'd get from bringing all three together! ;)

Anyway, this view is peeking over the wall from the site where they'll rebuild the shrine in a few more years.



From the sanctity of Ise to the profanity of Toba, a city which is about 90% tourist trap, with a few locals running the show. The big industry is oyster farming and pearl diving. Of course, they don't really need pearl divers anymore, but the tourists like it, so they do regular shows now. I wasn't all that interested in pearls, so a harbour cruise was in order instead. The cruise was on this spectacularly tacky little ferry boat, which looks vaguely Chinese from a distance, but up close is festooned with giant mock-ups of seafood. I'd love to meet the guy who thought it would be a good idea - then again, maybe not...



The cruise stopped at a place called Dolphin Island, where you can ask the question "Iruka iru ka?" (Are there dolphins?), and get the answer "Hai!", instead of a dirty look, although I suspect so many tourists have asked that question, you may still get a dirty look - I wasn't game. The brochures promised the chance to touch the dolphins, but failed to mention that you could do so only if you were under 5 years of age! So I got a pic instead...

However, there were some great views to be had from the tower built on the peak of the island, so I did a 360 degree panorama, starting with the island itself looking west towards Toba city and progressing counter-clockwise...













And to finish off with, a picture of a very famous place that's probably been on as many postcards and travel brochures as Fuji-san: Meitoiwa - the wedded rocks. They represent the union between the creator gods Izanagi and Izanami. Nearby was a little shrine full of concrete images of frogs. Nobody seemed to know why, except that they were supposed to be lucky or something...