Ise & Shima

Located on the Shima peninsula in Mie prefecture, Ise city is home to the　Ise shrine, Japan’s most sacred　Shinto shrines. The Ise Shrines consist of two major shrines that stand several kilometers apart from each other, the Naiku and Geku, and over a hundred smaller shrines spread across the region.

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Ise Shrine Naiku

The Naiku is dedicated to Shinto’s most important god, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, and is considered Japan’s most sacred shrine. It fascinates through its simplicity, featuring little more than gravel-covered walkways and wooden, barely painted shrine structures, surrounded by a serene forest.

Futamigaura

From times long past, Futami-ga-Ura has been a place where pilgrims on the way to Ise Jingu have come to cleanse their bodies and spirits before worshipping. In the bay there are two rocks sitting side-by-side, one large, one smaller, known as Meoto-iwa (the Wedded Rocks). Two rocks are tied together by shimenawa, ceremonial rope that is made of twisted rice straw and is used to mark off sacred or purified areas, and you can often see it on the gates of shrines. One of these ropes is suspended between the rocks and serves as a torii, a type of gateway that demarcates the precincts of Futami Okutama Jinja.