The area here is called “Kodenchi”. Once every 20 years, the shrine is rebuilt in the “Shikinen Sengu” ritual. This means that the Grand Shrine in Ise Jingu moves every 20 years. The small, lonely shed you see here within Kodenchi was once the center of the Grand Shrine, and currently serves to protect the “shin-no-mihashira” (sacred central post).

By the way, did you know that “Jingu” (神宮) means a shrine (宮) where a god (神) lives. There’s a theory that “miya” (another reading for 宮) originates from “niwa” (庭 or garden), and eventually came to be the “miya” (御屋 or shrine) built in gardens. With various festivals in Ise Jingu taking place outdoors in gardens, it’s possible that the the origin of the shrine lies in a garden within the forest.

Ise Jingu hosts 1,500 festivals in a year. About half of these are the Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai, a festival in Geku that takes places every day (“higoto”)—once in the morning and night (“asa-yu”), to offer food (“omike”) to Amaterasu-Omikami.

These aren’t the typical festivals with a lively and exciting scene of people carrying “mikoshi” (portable shrine) on their shoulders.

Here, the priests, who spent the previous day in Geku to purify their bodies, go out in the morning to fetch water from a well. Then, they rub wood together for kindling and boil a pot to steam rice. Preparing the rice, water, salt, and the food from the sea and mountains is how the ritual has been carried out, unchanged, for 1500 years. These actions all constitute the Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai, which has never been missed once since Geku was founded 1500 years ago. This includes days of unprecedented disasters.

Recent examples include days when a typhoon flooded the Ise Bay and bombs fell during the Second World War. But this ritual has never been called off for a day. Perhaps it was because of days like these that this ritual was needed the most.

After all, the prayers made during Higoto-asa-yu-omike-sai are for the peace of the nation and its people.

To be continued.