We took the train down to Ise and saw the Ise Shrine, sort of. There is a torii at the entrance and then a bridge over the sacred river. Within the complex there is the shrine which gets rebuilt every 20 years and is inside three fences. You are partially allowed inside the first, but no further. There is very little to be seen, but that is the point. It’s a funny thing to do, travel to see something that can’t be seen. But it is the shrine of all shrines.
(this is the view of the shrine)
I wondered a lot about this today, how curious it is for humans to construct something only good enough for the gods. And not even to keep it totally hidden, but expose just a bit. I’m totally fascinated by the idea of sacred space, but I don’t know that I understand it at all.
We took another long leg of the trip to this little village, which has been preserved for the past 200 years and is without any vending machines and essentially no power lines, etc.
This was, to be honest, disappointing. I mean, it would have been cool if we had not already seen 80 villages almost exactly like it, except with vending machines and the like.
We got back late, at 9ish.
Tomorrow we are going to Himeji Castle – supposedly one of the best castles left in Japan.
It too is a train ride away from Kyoto.
Tuesday morning (tomorrow is Monday) we take the train back up to Tokyo, which I am very excited about. I plan on readying the city for Miles :).
Oh! And my new favorite thing, because I knew everyone was wondering, are these little triangles of packed rice. There are lots of different kinds, but my favorite have soy sauce like stuff on the outside. SOOO yummy.
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