Imibiyaden is the kitchen used to prepare Amaterasu-Omikami’s food.
Everyday at a set time, smoke rises from a gap in Imibiyaden’s roof. The priests make a fire here to prepare for Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai. They use boards of cypress, thought to be the tree of fire, against which they rub yamabiwa wood and make a fire from the frictional heat. This sacred flame is called “imibi” and is used to heat a pot to steam rice and cook many other offerings. Once these foods are prepared, the priests visit the “Harai-dokoro” sitting in front of Imibiyaden to cleanse themselves and carry the offerings to the “Omikeden” behind the Grand Shrine. This is how they offer food to Amaterasu-Omikami every day and pray for peace for the country and its people.
After the food is offered, the priests graciously accept the food for themselves.
Although not much has changed in the rituals at Ise Jingu in the last 1500 years, that’s not to say that nothing has changed at all. So, what’s the boundary between what can and must not change?
For example, why is it that priests rub wood together instead of using a lighter or match? It relates to the thought of protecting the traditions of Ise Jingu. Simply put, by protecting the form of these traditions, you are also protecting the heart. After all, despite being lead by nothing more than imagination, if we think about what humankind’s first fire was, it was produced by nature—whether that be from when lightning struck a forest, or when the sun burned dry wood. In those times, humans revered fire with awe and imagined about how to produce it. In an age without any modern tools, the method of rubbing wood together was the first method to reproduce this phenomenon.
Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai can’t be missed even for a day; and like water, the fire must be there too. Even if lighters and matches become nonexistent in this world, the last method of producing fire remaining for humanity might be rubbing wood together. Thus, this ritual might rescue the Japanese.
Think about it yourself: what do you think the meaning behind passing down the origin of fire through Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai is?