Trip to Ise shrine

Ayako has started her week-long Obon holiday and so our first trip of the holiday was to Ise shrine in Mie prefecture. It was about a 3-hour train ride from Hamamatsu. The weather was cloudy, but at least it made it comfortable for walking around all day.

There are actually two sets of shrines in different locations in the town of Ise. We went to the first one (the outer shrines) first. There is one main shrine there and other smaller versions of the large one as well. Unfortunately, only the imperial family is allowed to enter the shrine and since it's surrounded by a large wooden fence, you can only see the top of it. Luckily it is free to visit these shrines. Here's a picture of me outside the main shrine:
Below is Ayako standing outside one of the smaller versions of the shrine. The tradition here is for each shrine to be rebuilt every twenty year. The area to the right of the shrine is where it will be built next time. After the new one is built, the old one will be taken down and the wood will be sent around Japan to build other shrines. Since this is one of the most famous shrines in Japan, other shrines will be glad to receive wood from the shrines here. This process happens every twenty years and so the location of the shrine swaps between the two plots:
We then went to visit the other main set of shrines (the inner shrines). The main shrine here is the biggest one and only the imperial family can enter it. Supposedly, there is also a famous mirror that was built in the third century and can only be viewed by a member of the imperial family. Unfortunately, no member of the imperial family has even requested to see it. It is kept under a cloth bag, and another cloth bag is placed over it when the previous one starts getting thin. Since nobody has seen the mirror for over 1700 years, there are many bags over the mirror and quite a good history of weaving from different eras.

Anyway, here are some photos when we walked around looking at the inner shrines:



Outside of the inner shrines, there is a street with many traditional houses and stores that sell lots of souvenirs and yummy treats:
These are are some shots from inside a traditional marketpalce area with lots of things for sale:

Ayako was very happy to find a famous store that serves "akafukugori" which is kakigoori (green tea syrup on shaved ice) with red bean paste and mochi rice balls inside. It was a very popular store and a yummy dessert to have, even though it wasn't that hot outside.
She then went to buy a famous sweet called akafuku, which is a mochi rice ball covered in red bean paste:

We enjoyed eating it on the train ride home. We've decided this holiday to just do day trips rather than one longer trip. Our next trip is to Hakone, a famous hot springs area.