A Year in the Life of Ise Jingū (Photos)

A New Shrine for the New Year

Every 20 years, the main shrine buildings at Ise Jingū in Mie Prefecture, the most important of all of Japan’s tens of thousands of Shinto shrines, are rebuilt entirely. The ceremony, known as the shikinen sengū in Japanese, has been taking place every 20 years since the seventh century. The most recent rebuilding was completed in October 2013, when the two residing deities (kami) were ceremonially moved into their new quarters in the Naikū and Gekū, or Inner and Outer Shrine buildings, at the heart of the shrine precincts. This regular rebuilding has earned the Ise Grand Shrine a reputation as the shrine of eternal youth—symbolic of the ever-present, unchanging nature of the divinity. The shrine never looks more vibrant than after a renewal.

In Japan, it is traditional to begin the New Year by visiting a shrine to pray for good fortune in the 12 months to come. Ise Jingū will be a particularly popular choice this year. What better way to mark the New Year than by walking along the gravel paths leading to the ancient-but-always-new shrine at Ise?

I grew up in Ise, where my family ran a small business providing fish for the ceremonial offerings at the shrine. Growing up nearby, I got to know at close hand the many faces of the sacred precincts throughout the year. In spring, I used to follow the mejiro (Japanese white-eye) birds that played in the branches of the cherry trees; in summer, I could sense the trees and plants luxuriating in a sudden evening downpour; in autumn, I would enjoy the light streaming through the foliage; and in winter, I would occasionally wake to the wonderful surprise of a rare covering of snow. The sacred grounds of the shrine were home to more pleasures than I could count.

One I loved in particular was a river, the Isuzugawa—a constant presence through everything, its pure and gentle waters flowing throughout the changing seasons.

The river always reminds me of the awe-inspiring age of this timeless place, the waters flowing unchangingly for more than a thousand years through the sacred precincts of the shrine. The river flows into the sea at Shima, bringing its riches to the ocean, then rises into the heavens to bestow its blessings as rain to the home of the kami.

This is the beautiful natural landscape of Ise, so precious to the Japanese people.

(Photographs and original Japanese text by Nakano Haruo.)

January 1　The first sunrise of the New Year. Crowds of worshipers join their hands in prayer as the sun rises over the Uji Bridge.

January 7　A priest with a sacred sakaki branch says prayers for the spirit of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) in a ceremony held each year on the day of his death.

February 9　A rare flurry of snow falls on the Kazahi-no-Minomiya Bridge.

February 17　The Toshigoi no Matsuri festival is held to pray for an abundant harvest.

March 19　The Japanese white-eyes appear in the branches of an early-blossoming wild Himalayan cherry tree, as if they have been waiting for it to bloom.

March 28　Cherry blossoms are a welcome sight as you approach the Uji Bridge on a beautiful spring day.

April 1　Sumō wrestlers make their ceremonial entrance. The sport has ancient ties to Shintō, and the tradition of holding bouts in shrines to honor the gods has a long history.

April 28　The spring kagura performance of ceremonial music and dance. Performances of kagura are held several times a year on a specially constructed stage.

May 5
Upstream on the Isuzugawa, the pure waters flow through forestland belonging to the shrine.

May 12
Ceremonial planting of rice takes place in the paddies that provide sacred rice for rituals at Ise Jingū, accompanied by performances of ceremonial music.

May 16
A priest does the rounds of the sacred precincts every morning, his white robes standing out beautifully against the fresh verdure of spring.

June 16
At the Tsukinami-sai, prayers are said for the prosperity of the imperial family, the safety of the nation, abundant harvests, and national peace.

June 17　The Tsukinami-sai takes place in June and December. Along with the Kanname-sai, it is the most important event in the religious calendar.

June 30 　The priests of the shrine conduct a purification ceremony to wash away sin and impurity.

July 1
A curtain hung across the shrine entrance is blown back by a gust of wind as a priest approaches.

July 11
Sacred horses have been a fixture in many Shintō shrines since ancient times. On the first, eleventh, and twenty-first days of each month, the sacred white horse joins in a procession to the bottom of the stone steps before the main shrine building and bows its head.

August 1　The shrine is crowded with people in summer yukata paying their respects on the occasion of hassaku, the first day of the eighth month, when prayers are traditionally said for a good harvest.

August 25　A priest makes his way toward the newly rebuilt Kazahi-no-Minomiya Bridge.

September 5　The Nuibo-sai is a ceremony to harvest the ears from plants in the paddies where rice used in rituals is grown.

September 5　Harvested ears of rice presented in thanks for a bountiful harvest.

September 18　A performance of traditional music and dance under the mid-autumn harvest moon.

September 23　The autumn performance of kagura. Traditional dances are performed to entertain the kami.

October 16　The Kanname-sai, one of the most important ceremonies of the year. The first rice of the year is offered to the kami in thanks for the harvest.

November 19　The Uji Bridge in fall foliage. The bridge marks the boundary between the sacred and profane worlds.

November 23　Niiname-sai. A harvest ceremony in which the emperor himself offers new rice to the gods and partakes of the new rice.

December 17　The December Tsukinami-sai. In front of the Naikū's Imibi-yaden, the “gods’ kitchen” where rice and other foods are prepared, a priest blesses boxes containing sacred offerings with a sacred sakaki branch.

December 31　The shrine precincts throng with people on New Year’s Eve. Throughout the country, people visit shrines and temples to give thanks for the year just passed and pray for happiness in the year to come.