Ise Shrine Tour

Last weekend, I joined a group tour organized by Yamasa to the Grand Shrine at Ise in Mie prefecture (just west of Aichi). We rode in two vans for a two day trip.

We stoppped at Meoto Iwa (夫婦岩, Meoto Iwa), or the Wedded Rocks. The rocks are near Okitama shrine. It was rainy and the sea was rough.




You can see a small torii gate on the larger (male) rock.







Okitama shrine is dedicated to the goddess of food. So naturally, we had some at Ise. I'm not a big fan of gyudon (beef on rice), but I had some of the best gyudon ever!


Near the restaurant we saw some Taiko drummers.








The shrine at Ise is the most venerated shrine in Shinto. Photography is prohibited near the actual shrine at Ise. It is unusual in that it's purely Japanese in design, with no influence from mainland Asia.

Supposedly, it contains a sacred mirror, which is one of the three imperial treasures (the others being a jewel at the imperial palace and a sword at Atsuta shrine). Only the emperor and a priest at the shrine can see the mirror, and they never do.

Every twenty years, the sanctuary is built on a site next to the current shrine. The mirror is moved to the new sanctuary, and a new shrine is built around it. Meanwhile, the old shrine is dismantled and the parts are used to repair other shrines.

After wandering around Ise some more, we went to our lodging for the night. We stayed at a minshuku, which is family run inn. The women took up two tatami rooms, five in one and three in the other. We had a great seafood feast. The picture is on its side because Blogger is trying to be smart -- it thinks my original needs rotating.

You can see that each person has several dishes to eat, as well as some shared plates of really good sashimi.

The next day was nice out, so we went to Goza beach. The water was cool and clear.





After Goza beach, we continued driving and came to this lookout point.

From here we went to Toba and Mikimoto Pearl Island. Kokichi Mikimoto developed the technique for making cultured half pearls, and used a technique developed by other Japanese to make cultured round pearls. His company was one of the first Japanese companies to gain international recognition.

We saw a staged demonstration of women pearl divers.

We then took a car ferry to the Atsumi peninsula in Aichi prefecture.







We stopped at another beach, which appeared to be good for surfing.





You just don't see scenes like this in Wisconsin....















That evening I started packing for my trip to Okayama and to send my things back to Tochigi. I had a great time in Okazaki. But from now on, I have to keep up my Japanese language study!