The journey to Geku begins with crossing this bridge. Actually, in the Edo period the streets would reach up to here. Considering how disastrous a fire would be, a ditch was dug through and filled with water. Over this, a bridge was built, and a similar bridge was built in Naiku for the same purpose. Among the Shinto priests at Ise Jingu, there is even a custom that prohibits those involved in festivals from crossing Hiyoke Bridge and leaving. You could say the bridge distinguishes the realms of the religious and secular.

As soon as you’ve crossed the bridge, you will see a large camphor tree on the right called “Kiyomori kusunoki”. About 1000 years ago, the Shogun Taira Kiyomori visited Ise Jingu and hit his head on the tree’s branches. Enraged, he commanded the tree to be cut. “The proud house of Taira will soon fall” is an old saying in Japan, meaning that if you get carried away by your status and wealth and start acting recklessly, you’re bound to fall to ruin.

All trees in Ise Jingu are sacred, so be careful not to touch them.

Ise Jingu’s official name is Jingu. This very name sounds like something of a different class, and indeed it is also the most revered Shinto shrine as the main shrine among the 80,000 existing all over Japan.

After all, the suffix “Jingu” implies a connection with the Imperial Household, and Amaterasu-Omikami, the ancestor to the Imperial Household, is enshrined here in Ise Jingu. As such, the area of Ise Jingu is clearly more spacious than other shrines. The land on which it is built measures 5500 hectares in Naiku alone, which amounts to only a quarter of Ise’s area, though most of this land comprises of sacred forests which we can’t enter.

Downstream of the Isuzu River are fields for rice, vegetables, salt, and other crops. But why? Ponder this as we continue on our journey through Ise.