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The Grand Shrines at Ise

The architectural significance of the Ise shrines is that they are an early example of some of the basic principles of architecture now considered to be typically Japanese, such as using thatch for roofing and exposed, unpainted wood for beams and walls, raising the structure on wooden posts, and adapting a building to the natural environment. Of the ancient shrines in Japan, Ise Jingū is the most important.

Shinto

The clan chief in prehistoric times was also the clan head of a religion that eventually came to be known as Shinto, the Way of the Gods. Shinto is based upon the belief that there is a divine power in nature (kami) that permeates everything but is more highly concentrated in some things, such as particular waterfalls, trees, animals, people, ancestral spirits, and even human artifacts. Often, Shinto shrines are located near natural phenomena, such as a sacred mountain, where there is an especially high concentration of divine power. The term kami also is used in reference to mythological deities such as Amaterasu-Ōmikami, the sun goddess, from whom the imperial line is said to be descended.

Despite the abstract nature of kami, specific concentrations of power assume the characteristics of individual deities that can be offered domicile in shrine buildings dedicated to them. Thus, when individuals visit shrines, they pay respects to particular kami rather than to an abstract divine power.

Shinto ceremonies are organized around the concept of purification. Blood, death, and disease are highly polluting and must be cleansed if an individual is to communicate with the divine. Ceremonies can be as simple as washing one’s hands and mouth at a water basin before praying at a shrine, or as complicated as participating in a full-scale ceremony conducted by a priest, replete with traditional music and dancing by shrine maidens.

Pre-Buddhist Shrines

The three main types of shrine architecture from the Pre-Buddhist period are the Taisha, Sumiyoshi, and Shimmei styles. The Taisha style is represented by Izumo Shrine in Shimane Prefecture. In prehistoric times, Izumo Shrine was situated on a high platform reached by a long flight of steps. According to records kept at the shrine, the original building was 96 meters (315 feet) high, which was later reduced to 48 meters (157 feet), and eventually to 24 meters (79 feet), because of the building’s tendency to collapse without any apparent cause. Kanari Matsuri, a festival for all the Shinto gods in Japan, is celebrated annually at Izumo from October 11 through 17. Since there are no gods at the other shrines during this period, October is known as kannazuki (godless month) in the rest of Japan.

The main compound (viewed from the south) of the Naikū at Ise Jingū consists of a sanctuary and two treasure houses enclosed by a series of fences. Omitted in the drawing is a small covered annex that protects participants in ceremonies conducted outside the entrance to the sanctuary. To the west of the compound is another white graveled lot where the new Naikū will be located when the present structures are dismantled.

Detail of a picture scroll by Ikebe Gishō depicting a visit to Ise Jingū by the Emperor Taishō on November 14, 1916, four years after he ascended the throne. The procession is passing through the torii (Shinto arches) and thatched gateways to the main shrine compound.

The Sumiyoshi style, represented by Sumiyoshi Shrine in the city of Osaka, consists of four gable-entrance structures overlooking the sea. The Grand Shrines at Ise, on the Kii Peninsula, Mie Prefecture, represent the Shimmei style.

The Setting at Ise

There are two shrine compounds at Ise, located several kilometers apart: the inner or Naikū dedicated to the sun goddess, and the outer or Gekū dedicated to the goddess of food, Toyouke-Ōmikami.

Despite some minor differences, the styles of the Naikū and Gekū are almost identical. Collectively known as Ise Jingū, the shrines are situated in an ancient cedar forest. Although the main buildings of both the inner and outer shrines are separated from the world by a series of fences that bar most people from entering, the main features of the architecture can be seen in the numerous subsidiary buildings found throughout the two compounds. Basically, the buildings are derived from raised prehistoric rice storehouses that were gradually modified and refined into some of the world’s most highly sophisticated structures.

Pre-Buddhist Izumo Shrine, 48 meters (157 feet) high, based on a model at Koyama Industrial High School, which relies on a painting kept at Izumo Shrine and on research by architectural historian Fukuyama Toshio.

In the background is one of the shrine buildings at Ise Jingū. In the foreground is the graveled area where an exact copy will be reconstructed when the complex is replaced.

Kagura-den complex at the Naikū, Ise Jingū, where sacred dances and music are performed. Unlike the shrines on the grounds, which are built in the kirizuma style (thatched gable roofs), the Kagura-den has a hipped-and-gable roof (irimoya style) with copper shingles. See page 37 for roof styles.

The “Historical” Record

According to tradition, long ago, in the Age of the Gods, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu-Ōmikami, was presented with a mirror by his grandmother and sent to rule over the land of Japan. His grandmother informed him that the mirror would serve as a symbol of her presence. Ninigi took a beautiful goddess as his consort, but when he refused to take an older, ugly sister as well, the father put a curse on Ninigi’s offspring so their lives would be short. Thus the human race was born. Succeeding emperors kept Ninigi’s sacred mirror in their palaces, where it was worshipped as a manifestation of the sun goddess. Some time in the latter part of the third century CE, during the final years of the Yayoi Period, the eleventh emperor, Suinin, built a permanent shrine for the mirror and ordered the princess Toyo-sukiiri-hime-no-mikoto to serve the sun goddess as the representative of the imperial family. This system of having a “princess-shaman” as head priest at Ise remained in effect until the Muromachi Period (1333–1573).

This wooden lantern on the grounds of Ise Jingū harmonizes with the architectural style of the complex.

Interior of a shrine at Takachiho in Kyushu where Ninigi-no-Mikoto, grandson of the sun goddess, is said to have descend-ed to a nearby mountain. On the altar is a mirror representing one of the three symbols of divine authority (the other two being the sword and the jewel) received from the sun goddess herself.

Rebuilding Program

The shrines are rebuilt every twenty years, a policy begun by the Emperor Temmu in 685, over a century after the formal introduction of Buddhism and the invasion of Chinese culture. It was probably to guard against such growing influence that the rebuilding program was instituted. While many other shrines were rapidly adopting Chinese characteristics, such as curved roofs and painted wood, the straight-line Shimmei style and the use of natural materials was maintained at Ise. Some features, however, such as the metal fittings, the north–south orientation of the buildings, and the design of the gates, appear to be due to continental influence.

The rebuilding program requires a massive expenditure of resources, time, and money since it involves replacing sixty-five structures and approximately 16,000 artifacts that fill them. This requires a small army of carpenters, thatchers, sculptors, metal workers, cloth makers, and other craftspeople. The rebuilding program commences twelve years after the completion of the preceding program and takes eight years to complete. It is accompanied by thirty-two major rituals, beginning with cutting nearly 14,000 hinoki (Japanese cypress or white cedar) trees from an imperial forest preserve in the Kiso mountains of Nagano Prefecture. The trees are floated down the river to a site on the Ise Jingū grounds where priest-carpenters employ ancient tools and rituals to begin fashioning timbers for the new buildings. Thatching the new shrines requires around 25,000 bundles of mountain reeds (kaya).

Major buildings are built on adjoining lots where structures from the previous twenty-year cycle were dismantled. At the center of each vacant lot is a miniature wooden building that covers a hinoki stick that marks the spot where the sacred “heart pillar” under the center of the new building will be erected. The newly constructed buildings are supposed to be exact copies of the old shrines. After the new shrines have been authenticated by the priests, the old shrines are torn down and their materials are given to tributary shrines throughout Japan. This method ensures a faithful transmission of the old style. Although there have been several lapses in this rebuilding program, the shrines at Ise Jingū were rebuilt for the 62nd time in 2013.

Painting of a pilgrimage to Ise. Pilgrimages became very popular during the Edo Period since travel was safe and people had more money than in previous periods. In 1830, for example, 4,600,000 people visited Ise during a six-month period. Some-times, those who could not make the pilgrimage sent their dogs with friends or relatives to be blessed by the priests at Ise. This illustration is a detail from a scroll by Tanaka Ekishin, housed in the Jingū Chōkokan Museum near Ise Jingū. Photograph courtesy of the Jingū Chōkokan Museum.

THE MAIN SANCTUARY AT THE NAIKŪ

The main sanctuary at the Naikū is a raised rectangular structure, three bays wide by two bays deep, made of hinoki (Japanese cypress) harvested from a forest preserve deep in the mountains. The unpainted wood gradually changes in color over its twenty-year lifespan, from golden brown to gray. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the large roof thatched with the stems of a mountain reed. The roof ridge is supported by two free-standing pillars sunk directly into the earth in the hottatebashira style used in preceding Jōmon and Yayoi elevated storehouses. The walls also rest upon heavy pillars that support the raised floor, which is surrounded by a graceful veranda with a handrail. A sacred post stands under the middle of the floor, above which the sacred mirror is kept in a container resting on a stand. The entrance is in the middle of one of the long sides, a style called hirairi. To avoid an imbalance, the roof thatch narrows as it rises, as do the huge pillars that support the ridgepole. At each end of the roof, the roof poles cross and extend beyond to form the chigi (forked finials). This helps balance the massive outward slope of the roof. Laid across the ridgepole is a row of long, close-set pegs, the katsuogi—ten at the Naikū and nine at the Gekū, reflecting their difference in status. The long slender pegs extending from the gable ends, four on each side of the ridgepole, are known as muchikake.