JAPANESE CULTURE, EXPLAINED

Ise Jingu: two centres within a network of 125 shrines

伊勢神宮

Ise Jingu, formally Jingu, encompasses Naiku, Geku and associated shrines, 125 in total. Its shrines occupy separate places in and beyond Ise. Worship, forests, ritual work and periodic rebuilding connect a continuing system of places.

Two central shrines and their network

Locate the two centres

Thatched roofs, chigi and katsuogi visible above the Naikū enclosure. — Roofs and enclosure at Naikū’s main sanctuary, April 2008. N yotarou / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Naiku, formally Kotaijingu, enshrines Amaterasu; Geku, Toyoukedaijingu, enshrines Toyouke. Naiku stands beside the Isuzu River, while Geku occupies a separate location near Mount Takakura. Jingū describes Toyouke as the miketsukami, the kami responsible for Amaterasu’s food. The two main precincts stand apart.

Category	Count
Main sanctuaries	2
Betsugū	14
Sessha	43
Massha	24
Shokansha	42
Total	125

Two main sanctuaries at separate sites

Naikū: Amaterasu / beside the Isuzu River

Gekū: Toyouke / at Mount Takakura

Naikū and Gekū are separate main sanctuaries within the 125-shrine institution.

Count shrines rather than one crowded compound

Alongside the two principal shrines are fourteen betsugu, forty-three sessha, twenty-four massha and forty-two shokansha. Some associated shrines lie outside both principal precincts, within and beyond Ise city. The 125 shrines have different ritual positions and histories across this network.

Tradition and rebuilding

Foundation traditions and pilgrimage history

Jingu recounts Naiku’s foundation through traditions about Yamatohime’s search for a site. The 804 Kotai Jingu Gishikicho is a later historical document recording ritual and foundation accounts. Medieval pilgrimage expanded, while onshi linked worshippers through prayer, amulets and accommodation, especially in the Edo period.

Rebuilding renews structures and sacred furnishings

Outer entrance of Gekū’s main sanctuary in 2014. Credit: Thirteen-fri; CC BY-SA 3.0.

Each main precinct has neighbouring eastern and western sites. Shikinen Sengu rebuilds sanctuaries and renews sacred furnishings on an approximately twenty-year cycle, culminating in ritual transfer. Jingu dates the initial Naiku and Geku cycles to 690 and 692 and the sixty-second to 2013. A continuing place and the age of its present structure are thus separate matters.

Renewal sites within a sanctuary precinct

Eastern site

Western site

The main sanctuary alternates between neighbouring eastern and western sites within each precinct.

Institutional change and daily rites

Continuity includes interruptions

Late-Muromachi financing difficulties brought an interruption of about 120 years. Fundraising by Keikoin religious figures and support from later rulers enabled recovery. The onshi system ended in Meiji; rebuilding acquired a state framework and then shifted towards private support for the 1953 postwar cycle. The rebuilding cycle and its organisation have changed over time.

Daily work links the places

Geku’s Mikeden supplies morning and evening food offerings for Amaterasu and associated deities. Annual rites include prayers for crops, harvest offerings and the tsukinami ceremonies. Rice production, sacred textile weaving and presentation involve additional places and workers. These daily and annual tasks continue across the shrine network.

Check your understanding

Are all 125 shrines inside Naiku?

No. The network includes both main precincts and shrines elsewhere.

Does rebuilding erase the identity of the place?

No. Structures and furnishings are renewed within a continuing ritual system.

Has the rebuilding cycle never been interrupted?

It has. Jingu’s own account describes a long late-medieval interruption and subsequent recovery.

Sources and images