The Inner Shrine (Naiku)

Good night, good moorning, good afternoon my followers, wherever you are!

  By now you must have realized already on how short this post is. Don't be afraid, my day was really long today! As I told you guys yesterday.
  The thing about this small post is because, for you guys to be able to understand how big this day was, you must first understand where I went. After you do so, you will be able to appreciate where I went.

   Don't want to bother you guys with long explanations, so let's be short about it! Bare in mind that these explanations are necessary, though.

  Today, February 26th, we had our moorning classes. 2 classes, total of 2 hours talking about the famous Inner Shrine (Naiku).
   So, what is the Inner Shrine?
   If you remember from previous posts, I said that the Grand Shrine of Ise (Ise-jingu) is not actually one big shrine, but a complex of 125 shrines. Within these 125 shrines, there are 2 shrines which are 2 of the most important shrines in Japan, called Naiku (Inner Shrine) and Geku (Outter shrine).
   Why are they so important? 
   The reason for such a big importance lies within the Kami that are worshiped within these 2 Shrines. For those who don't know, Kami are the deities of Shinto (japanese native religion), mostly represented in mountains, rivers, trees, rocks, in nature itself. There are around 8 000 000 Kami (yaoyorozu no Kami) in Shinto, but 2 of the most famous ones reside inside the Naiku and the Geku.
   For now, lets forget about Geku, we will visit it next week.
   Naiku is one of the most important shrines because it holds the Kami Amaterasu-Ômikami, the deity of the sun, supreme ancester of Japan's Imperial Family. The shrine was built in the first century which makes it almost 2 000 years old. For centuries, the japanese people prayed to Amaterasu in a sign of respect for the Emperor, but algo for prosperity, good harvests, health, etc. These prayers still continue in the XXI century and the signs of the importance of Amaterasu are on sight: like the japanese flag or the so called ''land of the rising sun'', as a reference to Japan.
   Why was it built?
   The Naiku was built thanks to Yamato-Hime (Princess Yamato), if you guys remember the first shrine in the previous post entitled ''The first day''. The legends say that Yamato-Hime was in charged of finding a place for Amaterasu-Ômikami to be worshiped. After traveling through Japan, it was in the land of Ise that the Kami appeared in front of her, and declared her wish to be worshiped in that place. From that moment on, Ise became attached to Amaterasu-Ômikami and to the Emperor. A link that was never broke.

   Hope you guys could understand a little bit of how important the Naiku is. There is much more to it, but I don't want to upset you guys, so let's leave it like this. 

  Don't go away because I'm currently writting the post about my long long day! Please wait a few minutes, because I do have some surprises!