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==History & Changing Meanings==
==History & Changing Meanings==
[[File:Goo-ise-yohaisho.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A ''yôhaisho'' at [[Goo Shrine|Goô Shrine]] in Kyoto, for worshiping "at" Ise, from afar]]
[[File:Goo-ise-yohaisho.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A ''yôhaisho'' at [[Goo Shrine|Goô Shrine]] in Kyoto, for worshiping "at" Ise, from afar]]
While the Shrine has retained a strong Imperial association throughout its history, much surrounding that association today is a product of [[State Shinto]] as constructed in the [[Meiji period]] or even as late as the 1930s. In the [[Edo period]] too, Ise was a shrine dedicated to Amaterasu and [[Toyouke|Toyouke Ômikami]], but as gods of plentiful harvests and of prosperity, but Amaterasu's connection to the Imperial lineage was not emphasized. While certain portions of the shrine are accessible only by the highest priests and by the [[Emperor]] himself, the [[Meiji Emperor]] (r. [[1867]]-[[1912]]) was the first Emperor to visit the shrine in person since [[Empress Jito|Empress Jitô]] (r. [[686]]-[[697]]), over one thousand years earlier. During the intervening time, emperors worshipped Ise only "from afar" (''yôhai'').<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', UC Press (1998), 84, 88.</ref>
Ise was an extremely popular destination for pilgrimage during the [[Edo period]], with perhaps as many as three to four million people (more than ten percent of the entire population of the archipelago) setting out for Ise in any given year in the 18th to early 19th centuries. In a few peak years, as many as ten million people (one-third the population of the realm) may have set out on ''okage mairi'' ("pilgrimages of gratefulness").<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', UC Press (1998), 224.</ref> Pilgrimage was often an excuse, however, for simply obtaining the licenses to travel, and many people who claimed to be making pilgrimage to Ise in fact traveled elsewhere; even among those who did make it to Ise, the pleasure district of [[Furuichi]] was a powerful draw, revealing that this was for many people more about recreational travel or tourism than about devout religious pilgrimage.
While the Shrine has retained a strong Imperial association throughout its history, much surrounding that association today is a product of [[State Shinto]] as constructed in the [[Meiji period]] or even as late as the 1930s. In the [[Edo period]] too, Ise was a shrine dedicated to Amaterasu and [[Toyouke|Toyouke Ômikami]], but as gods of plentiful harvests and of prosperity, but Amaterasu's connection to the Imperial lineage was not emphasized. While certain portions of the shrine are accessible only by the highest priests and by the [[Emperor]] himself, the [[Meiji Emperor]] (r. [[1867]]-[[1912]]) was the first Emperor to visit the shrine in person since [[Empress Jito|Empress Jitô]] (r. [[686]]-[[697]]), over one thousand years earlier. During the intervening time, emperors worshipped Ise only "from afar" (''yôhai'').<ref>Fujitani, 84, 88.</ref>
Traveling Ise priests known as ''onshi'' or ''oshi'' journeyed around the archipelago selling or giving out amulets, giving sermons, and performing prayers and rites for those who asked them to do so. These ''onshi'', and various folk practices and beliefs associated with them, were abolished in the Meiji period, and Ise's association with the Imperial lineage became emphasized, with Imperial visits to the Shrine, and with the establishment of numerous Amaterasu shrines and Ise ''yôhaisho'' (worship-from-afar sites) across the country.<ref>Fujitani, 88.</ref>
Traveling Ise priests known as ''onshi'' or ''oshi'' journeyed around the archipelago selling or giving out amulets, giving sermons, and performing prayers and rites for those who asked them to do so. These ''onshi'', and various folk practices and beliefs associated with them, were abolished in the Meiji period, and Ise's association with the Imperial lineage became emphasized, with Imperial visits to the Shrine, and with the establishment of numerous Amaterasu shrines and Ise ''yôhaisho'' (worship-from-afar sites) across the country.<ref>Fujitani, 88.</ref>