Hii my trustworthy followers!
If you read yesterday's post, then you must be excited for the one I'm going to post today. However, if you do not recall it, I said I would be talking about my Saturday morning, which was pretty interesting, indeed. Remember the hint ? ''Every little girl's dream''.
Who's the little girl that doesn't dream about being a princess?
Lets not delay your curiosity any longer, guys.
Saturday, 1st March, the day was cloudy
and there was a small chance of precipitation. Fortunately, we didn't get
any, or ,at least, not enough to ruin our morning.
We started by getting into the University's
bus, which drove us away from Ise-city.
Twelve minutes on the road and we ended up in a countryside area, named Itsukinomiya. Here, we visited the Saiku Historical Museum
Surely you think that a museum is not the best place to be excited about, but don't jump to conclusions just yet. Indeed, it took me some time to realize what this museum was about, at first. According to what was told to us, this museum was built on top of an ancient palace, called the Saiku Palace, home of the Saio (Itsuki-no-himemiko). It was a very very pleasent surprise to discover that there was (in the past) a princess whose existance was attached to the Ise-Jingu.
In japanese history, the Saio was an unmarried Imperial princess who was selected by the Emperor and appointed, through fortune-telling, to serve at the Grand Shrine of Ise (Ise Jingu) as a mediator between the Shrine and the capital. A 3-year period of purification rites with her court would be required, before embarking on a journey to the Saiku Palace in Ise. This journey was called ''gunko'' (mass procession), which lasted 6 days and 5 nights, starting at the town of Oumi, near Kyoto, passing through the Suzuka mountains, before ending in Ise. The Saio spent the entire journey within her man-carried carriage (Sokaren).
Sokaren.
Gunko road
It soon became a tradition in the 7th century (Yamato-period), which lasted for 660 years, ending around the 14th century.
It was within the ancient Saiku Palace (picture below) that hundreads of servants, including male officials, court ladies, etc served the one Saio. Although her duty was to serve at Ise-Jingu, she only visited it 3 times a year, in very special festivals in June, December and September. Apart from this, it is said that the Saio lived a ''modest day-to-day life''.
(Saiku model)
When we left the Museum, we were taken to a nearby area where you could see another model of the palace, which, in ancient times, it was believed to be near 1 km long. In the below picture/video, you can see in the distance the area they chose to hold this model.
The area is pretty big, but the model is still under construction. Although the area seems deserted, there are a lot of events here, including recreations of the Saio lifestyle, where adults and kids participate in dozens of activities.
Overall, Im happy with the morning I had. I found out about something I didn't really know about, and it was a very interesting discovery! Indeed. Although it was a Museum, it had a pretty good exhibition theme, no doubt.
Still don't know much details about my day tomorrow so I will not give any hints. There will be a post, though, no doubt about it!
Diogo here, hope you've enjoyed the post and thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more!
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