Ise: Naiku

Ise is a site of many Shinto shrines. All of the shrine buildings are rebuilt on adjacent ground every 20 years using traditional techniques. The last time was in 2013, where a ceremony is held to transfer the deity from the old to the new. In extreme contrast to how ornate the buildings were in Nikko, these are very simple, woodem structures. There are two main shrine complexes, Geku and Naiku.

After lunch we went to Naiku which is dedicated to Amaterasu the sun goddess and guardian of Japan.

First one crosses over the Isuzu River over a bridge with a Torii gate on either end.

In addition to the regular temizusha for purification, there was also a spot by the river for washing.

Also a peaceful walk.

There were many smaller shrines dedicated to various kami dispersed around the wooded site.

Each building also has an adjacent site where it is rebuilt every 20 years.

The main shrine was similar to Geku. Here we got to witness a large group enter the shrine to be blessed. Frank was kind enough to inquire for me and find out that the minimum payment required was only ¥2000, much less than we thought.

Ise: Geku

Ise is a site of many Shinto shrines. All of the shrine buildings are rebuilt on adjacent ground every 20 years using traditional techniques. The last time was in 2013, where a ceremony is held to transfer the deity from the old to the new. In extreme contrast to how ornate the buildings were in Nikko, these are very simple, woodem structures. There are two main shrine complexes, Geku and Naiku.

First we visited Geku. This complex is dedicated to Toyo'uke no Omikami who provides abundant harvests and is the Guardian of well being, providing clothes, food and shelter.

There is always at least one Torii gate

The small museum onsite gave information about the shrines of Ise (Ise Jingu) and the ceremony moving to the new building. There was a beautiful garden outside.

The paths through the woods were peaceful.

There were a number of smaller shrines dedicated to different kami.

The main sanctuary is closed to visitors, but we could stand outside the fence and look in.

I might have accidentally set my camera off in the direction of a man who came to go inside an be blessed. (You can do anything for the right price...)

Next to the main sanctuary is the Kodenchi, the alternate site where the next shrine will be built.

And of course administrative buildings

Dinner in Ise was not what we planned

Since our attempt to find dinner last night ended up at a convenience store, tonight we set out with a plan. The map from our hotel (which we got on our way in after dinner yesterday) listed an okonomiyaki restaurant, which is one of my favorite Japanese foods, even though it's mostly only found in the area around Hiroshima.

Tonight we set out to find this restaurant.  I followed the map, leading us to the exact location, without a single wrong turn. Except the restaurant wasn't there. We circled the block, in case the map wasn't clear.

Somewhere nearby we saw a shop with 5-6 different motorcycles in the window. We became distracted by the pretty shinys inside and were drooling on the window when a man came by and asked us if we rode. Answering him reached the extent of our limited ability to communicate when my stomach growled and I suddenly remembered the real reason for our excursion.

I asked if he knew where the restaurant was and he replied that it was closed. Where to go now? We were determined to eat in a real restaurant tonight.

After wandering around and checking out a few menus that were either 100% in Japanese with no pictures, or only had photos of fish, which I don't like, we stumbled on a second floor concept restaurant that looked interesting and decided to give it a shot. It was well worth it.

Everything was very chic.

Each table had partitions separating it from the others.

Lots of sake for us.

Salad with salmon.
Not pictured: Chicken cutlet

Omlette rolls with green veggies.

Green tea ice cream and something that reminded us of Turkish lokum for dessert.

Travel day: Nikko to Ise

Sunday was a travel day. We took 4 trains from Nikko to Ise.

Nikko Train Station 

1) 10:06 train Nikko to Utsunomiya
   

It was really more of a long distance subway

2) 10:58 train Utsunomiya to Tokyo

3) 12:03 train Tokyo to Nagoya

4) 14:37 train Nagoya to Ise

We were in the first car, it was interesting to watch the conductor. He gave a lot of hand signals at what appeared to be specified times, though we couldn't see anyone watching.

We arrived at 16:06 into Ise, walked to our hotel and eventually wandered towards dinner somewhere. My friend and I took a long walk, checking out some of the city along the way, eventually ending up at a large supermarket (I always like to visit supermarkets in foreign countries....it gives one such a good sense of the culture) and a 100 yen store, the Japanese equivalent of a dollar store. Thankfully for my suitcase,  it was just closing!

View from my hotel room

Such unique architecture 

Cell phone kitty!

Outside a cemetery 

These statues in the cemetery scared the crap out of me when we first walked by, I thought they were real people! 

I found the truth!

After all our walking we ended up with a convenience store dinner:
Chicken curry with rice, some random beverage that I can only
explain as "it tastes pink" and brownie bites for dessert.

In search of Shinkyo Bridge

While looking through tourist maps from the visitor's center, I saw a pretty looking sacred bridge. It's a red bridge, 28m long. Legend has it that when the priest that founded Nikko arrived, they were helped across the river by two snakes which entwined themselves into a bridge.

As the group was heading to the bus stop to return to our hotel after a long, wet day of shrines and temples, I glanced at my map and noticed that the bridge appeared to be close by. I decided to go find it.

I asked another girl who had expressed interest in visiting the bridge, explaining my plan to find the river, look in both directions and see if we could find the bridge. She agreed to my somewhat logical, somewhat ridiculous plan and we waved bye to the group, saying we would catch the next bus.

We headed down some stairs, towards where we thought the river was located. We crossed a street and walked through a parking lot and we found the river. It was rapid and rocky  pretty with the green banks and floating fog.

But alas, no bridge.

As we were contemplating our next move, which was most likely asking the parking lot attendant in broken Japanese, we saw several other members of our group coming down the hill. They saw us and waved and pointed over towards the left. We joined forces, headed off in that direction and five minutes later we found the bridge!

Bridge spotted!

One must pay a toll to cross the bridge, but photos are free.

After we had our fill of the bridge, we ended up meandering back to the hotel on our own, exploring the shops and sights of Nikko along the way. It was a nice walk, and a worthwhile excursion. Sometimes you have to take a chance!

Toshogu Shrine (after Yomeimon Gate)

Passing through Yomeimon Gate, one first sees the main shrine building.

Like all the buildings, it was well decorated.

Even on the inside, where I may have taken a photo or two before I realized we were not supposed to have cameras....

    

Everything around was so colorful.

Finally, we entered the gate towards where Tokugawa Ieyasu was kept. One of the first things one passes under is the famous sleeping cat carving above the door.

There were approximately eleventy billion stairs to get to the top, but I lost count because I was too bus panting heavily and contemplating how many people die each year from slipping on the wet stone stairs with no railing.

Yes, that's sort of a railing but it's covered in slippery moss and too far for most non-giants to reach.

One more flight of stairs, one more Torii gate and finally I arrived at the top!

Because of the sleeping cat at the bottom, the cat has become a symbol of Ieyasu and one can purchase ema (wooden plaques that one writes their wishes on and hangs at the shrine) with images of the cat in order to provide good fortune to one's household. I may have gotten one as a souvenir.....

And now, behold, the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu!

Sadly, viewing Ieyasu meant it was time to begin the even more perilous seeming journey down.

In case you weren't sure, I survived.