Ise Shrine
Harrison, Jake, Sean and Brigham
Have you ever thought about why Shintoism so lively to the Japanese? Our class learned about this important spiritual religion. This is good to get used to Japan and its devout ways. In class, we were separated into different shrine groups. Ours was Ise Shrine. One reason we learned about Shintoism was that it was the first religion of Japan. It was probably the most important and sacred religion here. Ise shrine was the most important shrine of all. This is why our class learned about the Shinto religion.
Where are all the important symbols outside of Ise Shrine and inside Ise Shrine? Well, we will tell you. It is in the southern Honshu. Ise Shrine is located in the Mie Prefecture. Ise Shrine is also five minutes from the railroad line. It is also deep in a valley of two mountains, Mt. Kimaji and Mt. Tshimaji. It is by an old river. Now you want to hear about the symbols. The shrine has two guarding dogs out side. They protect the important kami. The shrine looks very big and orange. It is different from all the others because of its different architecture. The shrine usually blends into nature. There are long rice ropes on the torii gate. That is all about where the famous Ise Shrine is.
Every shrine is important to Shinto beliefs. They are extremely holy and sacred. There are four important kami in Ise Shrine. They are all worshiped differently depending on which kami you are praying to. The emperor made Ise Shrine for the Goddess Amaturatsu because he worshiped that goddess. Another kami was Okinawa, who is the god of food, rain and gorgeous clothes. Okinawa is the outer shrine god. Amaturatsu is the inner shrine goddess. There are a bunch of torii and sun gates in Ise Shrime. The Shinto believe is that if you go to Ise shrine seven times you will live in peace and harmony. You have to be very, very, very clean to go pray to the momentous goddess Amaturatsu. Ise shrine is the most important shrine in Japan with the most important kami in the whole very, very, very wide world. That raps up the Shinto belief of Ise shrine.
Why are the shrines significant? We know the answer to that! The shrines are the houses for kami and the kami are important gods. An example is the goddess of the Ise Shrine. The goddess of the Ise Shrine name is Ameterasu Omikami. Who was Amaterasu? She was a grand empress herself and she was a mythical ancestor. The Ise Shrine was specially made for her with a certain kind of architecture that no other shrine is suppose to have. Ameterasu lives in the Ise Shrine along with the emperors that ruled before including Emperor Temmu and other emperors. Ameterasu is so important that you cannot even go into the shrine itself. You even can’t look into the shrine. The major shrine is made up of two parts. The first part is the outer shrine. The outer shrine is the place where you can pray. The second place is the inner shrine is the place where the god or goddess lives. The way that the Ise Shrine was built was when an Emperor was walking around in town and then he was engulfed in a mysterious whirlwind and in it he saw Ameterasu. She said to build a shrine where he was standing and call it the Ise Shrine. To this day, the shrine is built every twenty years according to the Shinto religion traditions. When you go there, you can see offerings at the Ise Shrine. They are bundles of rice from every prefecture. Ise Shrine is the most important of all.
Written by Brigham, Jake, Harrison and Sean