Journey : Ise ~ Kumano to Tenkawa 2&3

After arriving to Ise, I went straight to Gegū. It was a nice sunny day. The sando path way was well swept which made me feel even better. I went to the honden main shrine and requested a mikakiuchi-sannpai (御垣内参拝). This type of visit allows you to go inside the fence with a priest leading you to the front of the honden. I like this walk. As I walk on the pebbles, every step I feel cleansed. The donation for this visit can be from 1000 yen and up. I think it’s reasonably priced and worth the experience. Spiritually, this is priceless. The pebbles on this sacred ground is an iwakura*(磐座) and it is like an electric field of god’s energy. To apply for this type of visit, you can go to the shrine office. You should wear formal. Men should wear a suit with tie. Women should wear a simple modest outfit either all black or all white.

As always, our family applied for the seishiki-sannpai (正式参拝) , the formal visit, at both Gegū and Naigū. At both shrines, a young priest attended the ritual, but both of them were very impressive with their performances. I can see how hard they have trained. If you are working in the guest service field, I highly recommend you to see how they attend and move. It is not easy to train the young people these days to this high level. It was interesting to see the difference in feature of the priest of Gegū and Naigū. It must be the god’s will, to whom is chosen to be at the particular shrine. The priests at Gegū looks gallant and clean-cut, where as the priests at Naigū looks more friendly and warm. Their features reflect the god worshipped at each shrine.

At Gegū, I applied for the shinon-kansha (gratitude sending to the god) as a representative of Ise-Hakusun-Do. As we went inside the ceremonial hall, the first thing I recognized was the sakaki branches offered on the big altar. It was about two meters high beautifully growing to all directions. I heard there is a sakaki forest within the sacred ground of Ise specially grown for the rituals held at the shrines. This time, I was happy to see the sakaki leaves looking much healthier than last time.
The priest who chanted the Ooharae-no-kotoba showed dignity in his attitude. The priest of last time had a softer image and his voice was soft as well. The chant was chanted as if he was speaking gently. This was very unusual.

During the ritual, the movement of this priest gave me a vision of a rooster. It was the white rooster with a long tail, which resides at this sacred ground of Ise. When we were here last time, I didn’t see it on the other priest. He looked human until the end of the ritual. However, the priest of this time was different. I recognized that he had become one with the god. As I continue to use my psychic vision to look at the musicians in the back, four of them were regular human figure and the two in the back lane were sparrows.

The other figure of the priest being the white long tailed rooster signifies that he has attended the path in a serious and sincere manner for many years. He has become a true high priest.

A thought came into my mind, if I was able to view the Emperor in this way, I am sure that he will be more than a white long tailed rooster, but a phoenix.

In Shinto, birds have always been the messenger of the gods from the ancient times. The mythology tells about a three legged crow and at The Grand Shrine of Ise, the white long tailed rooster greets the sun. Even the costume of the priests l think originates from the rooster. (see photo of rooster at Naigū).　

Next place to visit will be the forest of Ise.
To be continued..

(the other photo is at the new Uji Bridge at Naigū. I felt strong energy in my gut.)

Ikashite-itadaite arigato-gozaimasu
Thank you for letting us live

*Iwakura – to see a giant rock as a form of god

Twenty years of visiting Ise - Part 5

We took the bus to go to Naigū. It has been years since I have taken a public bus. My wife and I were getting some change ready. It was 200 yen until the last stop all of the sudden, it went up to 410 yen! I would recommend you to get off at Okage-yokocho and walk. It will be cheaper.

We got to Naigū around 1:30 pm. The heat was intense. For older people and people with health problems, I would recommend to visit early in the morning. Spiritually, it is always better before 9:30 am. I have heard that many of the African tribes who worship the sun believe that the sun god only appears at sunrise and sunset. During the day, the sun god is not present.

When I sent my gratitude at the honden, main shrine, of Naigū, I sensed the seventh rank of Amaterasu-Ohomikami. I could see one Light Pillar standing toward heaven on the left side of the ground of sengu. The path behind the main shrine toward Aramatsuri-no-miya, the scenery is quite spectacular. However, this time, a fence was made and was no longer able to see the view. This time I didn’t sense anything at Aramatsuri-no-miya. I bought a Ken-barai-fuda*(charm) at the Naigū shrine office.

After leaving the shrine, we went to Okage-yokocho to have some ice shaves. When I looked at my shoes, it was covered with white dust from the gravel walk. I was going to clean it when we got back to the hotel, but ended up wearing it all the way back home. I felt this could be a souvenir for my house. Instead of taking the bus, we took a taxi back to the parking lot. If you are more than a party of four, it will be cheaper to take a taxi. During the taxi ride, the taxi driver told us an interesting story. He said that due to the exposure to the sunray, skin diseases are occurring within the taxi drivers. They had requested UV protection sheets to be applied on the car windows but was rejected. He said, “Even in Ise, we might need sun glasses like the one they wear at the South Pole,” kind of half joking and laughing.

After saying goodbye to my sister’s family, we went to a Shinto goods store near the entrance of Gegū and bought a hemp bark. I apply this bark to the tip of the core bar on my eight-legged altar. The god spirits reside on tree barks.

The next day, we went all the way to Sakamoto, Shiga Prefecture to a special soba restaurant. This Tsuruki-soba is a purveyor to the Imperial Household. The restaurant built 120 years ago had a nice atmosphere. I sensed that this area is a patrol course for the monkey ogres, who are the kenzoku spirits of Susanoo in the lower rank. Maybe it has to do with being close to the shrine, Hiyoshi-Taisha*. Such as this soba restaurant, when the local spirits are worshipped, they would receive protection and last long. The trip has come to an end. We drove back home looking at Lake Biwa on the way.

Ikashite-itadaite Arigato-gozaimasu

Thank you for letting us live




Ken-barai-fuda 剣祓札：A rare charm sold specially at The Grand Shrine of Ise (or Ise-jingu). It is rare because it has a special kind of tree bark wrapped on the top of the wooden piece inside the charm which is the old traditional way of making a proper charm.


Hiyoshi-Taisha 日吉大社：Located in Sakamoto, Shiga. The shrine was first built in the 8th century but was burnt when Oda Nobunaga destroyed the shrine along with Enrayku-ji temple. Hideyoshi Toyotomi constructed the existing buildings in the last quarter of the16th century. His name during childhood was “Hiyoshi-maru” and his nickname was “Saru” which means monkey.