In case I didn't tell you, yesterday (Sunday 2nd), I had a day off, from my course. Everybody went to do their own things, sightseeing, exploring, etc and so did I. In today's post, I plan to tell you guys all about it.
If you didn't noticed yet, I have a very deep interest for Japan's native religion, Shinto, which made me want to spend a day in a shrine. It didn't happen, though. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day and I didn't have much choice.
However, I did go to a shrine in the morning. Waking up at 9:30 a.m, I left my room at 10:30 a.m. for a 90 minute walk, northwest. My plan was to go visit the Tsukuyomi-no-Miya (Tsukuyomi Shrine), a shrine that my course didn't plan to go to.
For those who don't know, Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto is a well known Kami in Japan, one of the 2 brothers of Amaterasu-Ômikami. It is refered has being the Moon god, but it's barely mentioned in the old tales of Japan. I do not know stories that protagonize this deity, but a brother from the Sun deity cannot be so easily forgotten.
It was this curiosity and my passion for Shinto that made me go ahead with this plan of visiting the Tsukuyomi-no-Miya. And so I made my way through Ise-city.
It's interesting that you cannot see people in most of the photos, even though I was in the middle of the city. There are, of course, reasons for this.
First: it was Sunday morning and many Japanese take this day to go to their Shrines or Temples to pray.
Second: because of the First reason, you will see most of the japanese population of Ise around those sacred places. If you look at the 3rd and 4th picture above, for example, you can see an empty street, but that same street is paralell to one of the most crowded streets in Ise, the one outside the Geku (Outter Shrine of Ise). The pictures below show the entrance to the Geku and the ''missing'' people.
Third: it was raining.
After a long walk, with no benches to sit in, I finally reached my destination: The Tsukuyomi-no-Miya.
At first, it resembles those large parks within the cities with a lake, birds and ducks, etc. Just by looking to the pictures, it hardly seems that this Shrine lies in the middle of a city.
Although most of the Shrines in Japan have the same details, like the purification fountain, the main gate (Torii) and the worship building (Honden), they can all be different inside. While Im used to walk a straight path, from the Torii to the Honden, in the Tsukuyomi-no-Miya that path opens up completely.
You cannot but look to the amount of trees and to how tall they are. Again, the shrine was not put there as a city attraction, it was there long long ago, or those trees would never be that tall and thick. In the video above, if you listen carefully, there is only nature and never a city.
Another peculiar thing in this shrine is the 2 other ''pray-spots''.
I do know people pray in them, but I do not know what they are exactly, nor the Kami enshrined. However, it is not the Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto.
Apparently, given the total of 3 ''pray-spots'', people that pray in this shrine do not have an order on how to do it. All of them pray first in the Honden, to the Moon deity, but after their path's split. Some choose to go to one of the other 2 ''pray-spots'', others pray at the 3 ''pray-spots'' and others simply leave the shrine. I do not know why, but this fact supports the idea that are 3 deities within this shrine, although the most important remains as being Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto.
Every shrine has its own atmosphere and they never feel the same, indeed.
Hope you've enjoyed this post as much as I did. It was a different Sunday and I really enjoyed this small but sacred place.
Today, my day was very interesting and I shall write about it tomorrow, since Tuesday will be all about classes. A hint for it? Lets just say that it was cold, windy and wet.
Diogo here, thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!
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