Ise Shrine

• Established: 1st c. CE?
• Japanese: 伊勢神宮 (Ise jinguu)

Ise Shrine, located on the Kii peninsula in central Honshû, is the most sacred shrine in Shintô. Associated with the sun goddess Amaterasu, and holding the sacred mirror Yata no kagami, one of the Three Imperial Regalia, the shrine is also strongly associated with the Imperial line.

Reconstruction

The shrine is sometimes said to have been established in the first century CE; other sources place it at least a few centuries later. The actual buildings which comprise the shrine have for centuries, however, been frequently rebuilt, making the question of dates somewhat more complicated. In recent centuries, the pattern has been to rebuild once every twenty years; the shrine was thus reconstructed in 2013, and before that, in 1993. The practice of rebuilding the shrine is generally said to be chiefly associated with Shinto beliefs about spiritual corruption, and purity. The impermanence of the structures also helps emphasize the idea that it is the kami that is the object of worship here, and not the buildings themselves which should be sacred or treasured due to their age or historicity.

The shrine structures are rebuilt using virgin cypress (J: hinoki) wood from old-growth forests, and in concert with a variety of rituals, festivals, and ceremonies known as shikinen sengû ("relocation of the shrine in festival years"), including festivals associated with the felling and transportation of the logs to the shrine site. The innermost structures are not simply demolished and rebuilt on the same site, but are instead newly constructed on an adjacent site, to form a duplicate of the 'old' structures, which are then demolished. The 'old' site is covered over with gravel, and only one pillar of the old structure, a so-called "heart pillar" (shin-no-mihashira), is retained, and sheltered under a small shed built for that purpose. In this way, the shrine buildings actually alternate between two plots of land as they are rebuilt every twenty years. The construction itself is done using traditional methods, known and passed down by a specific group of Ise miya-daiku (shrine carpenters). Recently, concerns have grown that these traditional craft skills, as particular to Ise, may be in serious danger of dying out before the shrine is rebuilt once again, in 2033.

Grounds & Layout

The Ise Shrine complex can be roughly divided into two parts: the Naiku (Inner Shrine) and Geku (Outer Shrine). Each of these two parts consists of numerous shrine buildings and sacred spaces. Many other related small sacred spaces and structures are also scattered throughout the surrounding area.

The Geku, dedicated to Toyouke Ômikami, god of abundant food, was originally not associated with the Amaterasu shrine, but the two were combined in the 9th century.

The Naiku consists of roughly 120 separate shrines, with the most sacred, and most restricted, at their center. A lengthy prescribed path leads to the Inner Precinct, along a series of bridges and roads or paths which lead one through a series of torii. The entrance to the most restricted area is blocked off simply by a silk curtain; only high-ranking shrine priests and members of the Imperial family are permitted to enter beyond this curtain. Even beyond that point, however, access remains proscribed according to hierarchical status. Only the reigning emperor is permitted to enter the innermost shrine building, the shôden, while other members of the Imperial family keep a distance in accordance with their familial distance from the Emperor.

The shôden exemplifies shinmei-zukuri, the most classic style of Shinto architecture. It stands three bays wide by two bays deep, or roughly 15 x 10 meters. It is supported on pillars set directly into the ground, without a foundation. The thatched roof bears perhaps the most distinctive feature of this style: a pair of chigi, wooden beams which stick up out of the roof at a sharp angle, forming essentially an X-shape with the triangle of the roof itself. These are quite commonly seen on Shinto shrines throughout Japan, and rarely if ever on Buddhist structures. The shôden is arranged lengthwise within the precinct, and is approached and entered via a covered staircase. The Inner Precinct consists solely of this central shôden, and two small treasure houses, located to either side, behind it.

Separation from Buddhism

As the most sacred of all Shintô shrines, Ise has traditionally been believed to be a purely Shintô site, free of Buddhist influences. The 13th century monk Mujû Dôkyô (or Ichien Dôkyô), in his Shasekishû ("Book of Sand and Pebbles"), relates that monks were not permitted to approach the shrine buildings, and that it was forbidden to speak of the Three Treasures of Buddhism near the shrine. Instead, various euphemisms were used, such as calling Buddha "the cramped-legged one," calling sutras "colored paper" (somegami), and Buddhist temples mere "incense burners."

Mujû asserts, however, that Amaterasu was in fact in profound support of Buddhism, and in fact incorporates Buddhism into his account of the origins of the Japanese islands. He writes that it was Amaterasu (and not Izanagi and Izanami) who thrust a heavenly spear into the ocean depths, and that she did so guided by a seal placed by Dainichi (Vairocana Buddha) in that spot on the ocean floor. As in the Nihon shoki creation myth, brine foam which coagulated around the spear formed the islands of Japan; Mujû adds that the demon lord Mara noticed these events, and recognized them as the formation of a land in which Buddhism would later flourish. In order to hold off Mara's wrath, Amaterasu assured him that she would not permit the Three Treasures [of Buddhism] to come near to her; thus, by continuing to keep overt Buddhist activity away from Ise, the wrath of Mara is able to be avoided.

References

• Francis D.K. Ching, et al, A Global History of Architecture, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons (2011), 288-289.