The etymology for the kanji 社 (“sha”/”ja”) in 神社 (“jinja” or shrine) is said to lie in the kanji 杜 (“mori”), which relates to forests. The forest surrounding a shrine is held sacred and known as “kinju no mori”, or grove of the village shrine. The location of this first torii (gateway) sits at the entrance of this forest.

Before the torii stands a sakaki tree.

The sakaki tree represents the boundary, past which lies a sacred land. There are always young sakaki trees there, as the trees are replaced by new ones three times a month. Take a good look at these trees and you should be able to see scratches left in trunk from when the previous trees swayed back and forth in the wind. Ise Jingu has a field of sakaki trees, with almost 20,000 of them raised every year.

Before we pass through the torii, let’s take a moment to pray. Make sure that you keep to the left side of the path as we move toward Geku.

As you’re walking this path, you’ll hear the crunch of the gravel below your feet. But keep your ears open to your surroundings. You’ll notice there’s a moment when everyone’s footsteps grow quiet as they bow before the torii.

At Ise Jingu, we hope you can sharpen your five senses.

Once you’ve passed through the first and second torii toward the inside of Geku, the aroma of the forest steadily grow more fragrant. More concentrated than that of any urban park, the scent may inspire nostalgia in you. You might find the path lit beautifully by the sunlight pouring through the trees, reminiscent of the beauty in the Japanese phrase, “komorebi” (sunlight filtered through the tree leaves).

My experience, for instance, was something like this:
A bit off the path to Geku is Wataraikunimi Shrine. Though there are hardly any people there during the day, I went to this lonely shrine and closed my eyes in prayer. When I opened my eyes again, the sun had revealed itself from the clouds, illuminating nothing but the shrine enshrouded in the forest. As if in response to this, a pressing wave of chirps from the cicadas rang out from the forest.

You can feel the orchestra of Ise Jingu’s forest through your five senses and entire being.