His grandmother informed him that the mirror would serve as a symbol of her presence. Ninigi took a beautiful goddess as his consort, but when he refused to take an older, ugly sister as well, the father put a curse on Ninigi's offspring so their lives would be short. Thus the human race was born. Succeeding emperors kept Ninigi's sacred mirror in their palaces, where it was worshipped as a manifestation of the sun goddess. Some time in the latter part of the third century CE, during the final years of the Yayoi Period, the eleventh emperor, Suinin, built a permanent shrine for the mirror and ordered the princess Toyo-sukiiri-hime-no-mikoto to serve the sun goddess as the representative of the imperial family. The mirror is still the central object of worship in many Shinto shrines across Japan, and the head priestess of Ise Jingū is a type of "princess-shaman," in the ancient tradition.
Main Sanctuary at the Naikū
The main sanctuary at the Naikū is a raised rectangular structure, three bays wide by two bays deep, made of hinoki (Japanese cypress) harvested from a forest preserve deep in the mountains. The unpainted wood gradually changes in color over its 20-year life span, from golden brown to gray. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the large roof thatched with the stems of a mountain reed. The roof ridge is supported by two freestanding pillars sunk directly into the earth in the hottatebashira style used in preceding Jōmon and Yayoi elevated storehouses. The walls also rest upon heavy pillars that support the raised floor, which is surrounded by a graceful veranda with a handrail. A sacred post stands under the middle of the floor, above which the sacred mirror is kept in a container resting on a stand. The entrance is in the middle of one of the long sides, a style called hirairi. To avoid an imbalance, the roof thatch narrows as it rises, as do the huge pillars that support the ridgepole. At each end of the roof, the roof poles cross and extend beyond to form the chigi (forked finials). This helps balance the massive outward slope of the roof. Laid across the ridgepole is a row of long, close-set pegs, the katsuogi—ten at the Naikū and nine at the Gekū, reflecting their difference in status. The long slender pegs extending from the gable ends, four on each side of the ridgepole, are known as muchikake.
Rebuilding Program
The shrines are rebuilt every 20 years, a policy begun by the Emperor Temmu in 685, over a century after the formal introduction of Buddhism and the invasion of Chinese culture. It was probably to guard against such growing influence that the rebuilding program was instituted. While many other shrines were rapidly adopting Chinese characteristics, such as curved roofs and painted wood, the straight-line Shimmei style and the use of natural materials was maintained at Ise. Some features, however, such as the metal fittings, the north-south orientation of the buildings, and the design of the gates, appear to be due to continental influence.
The rebuilding program requires a massive expenditure of resources, time, and money since it involves replacing 65 structures and approximately 16,000 artifacts that fill them. This requires a small army of carpenters, thatchers, sculptors, metal workers, cloth makers, and other craftspeople. The rebuilding program commences 12 years after the completion of the preceding program and takes 8 years to complete. It is accompanied by 32 major rituals—beginning with cutting nearly 14,000 hinoki (Japanese cypress or white cedar) trees from an imperial forest preserve in the Kiso mountains of Nagano Prefecture. The trees are floated down the river to a site on the Ise Jingū grounds where priest-carpenters employ ancient tools and rituals to begin fashioning timbers for the new buildings. Thatching the new shrines requires around 25,000 bundles of mountain reeds (kaya).
Major buildings are built on adjoining lots where structures from the previous 20-year cycle were dismantled. At the center of each vacant lot is a miniature wooden building that covers a hinoki stick that marks the spot where the sacred "heart pillar" under the center of the new building will be erected. The newly constructed buildings are supposed to be exact copies of the old shrines. After the new shrines have been authenticated by the priests, the old shrines are torn down and their materials are given to tributary shrines throughout Japan. This method ensures a faithful transmission of the old style. Although there have been several lapses in this rebuilding program, the shrines at Ise Jingū were rebuilt for the 61st time in 1993.
Painting of a pilgrimage to Ise. Pilgrimages became very popular during the Edo Period since travel was safe and people had more money than in previous periods. In 1830, for example, 4,600,000 people visited Ise during a six-month period. Sometimes, those who could not make the pilgrimage sent their dogs with friends or relatives to be blessed by the priests at Ise. This illustration is a detail from a scroll by Tanaka Ekishin, housed in the Jingū Chōkokan Museum near Ise Jingū. Photograph courtesy of the Jingū Chōkokan Museum.
Tomb Mounds
In the late Yayoi Period, burial mounds were widely constructed in a variety of styles. By 300 CE, the growing power of the Yamato State was signified by a concentration of standardized mounds in the Kinki area around Nara. The most common type consisted of a rock crypt embedded in an artificial hill, sometimes surrounded by one or more moats.
Some mounds included semicircular or square platforms at the intersection of the head and neck. It is speculated that these platforms may have served as altars.
Historical Origins
According to ancient Chinese records, Japan consisted of warring states around the second century CE. Eventually, over 30 of these political units formed an alliance with the powerful Yamataikoku State and chose its shaman-queen, Himiko, to be the head of Wa (Japan). When she died, member states attempted to find ways to maintain the unity that Himiko had forged, including the standardization of tomb mounds, particularly in the area around Nara, the center of the Yamato State. In western Japan, vast mounds with a keyhole shape were built for clan chiefs, and funeral accessories such as mirrors, jewelry, and iron implements were buried with them. In the sixth century, there was a decrease in the number of large burial mounds, but an increase in small mounds built for common people. By the seventh century, due to new continental influences, the expression of power had shifted from burial mounds to Buddhist temples and magnificent capitals.
Construction
Sometimes natural hills were modified for use as burial mounds. More commonly, however, burial mounds were constructed. Ditches were dug around the perimeter and the dirt was used to build an artificial hill in the middle. Most ditches were dry, but some were filled with water. In addition to supplying soil, ditches also helped to distinguish mounds from natural hills. A nearby village housed the people engaged in the construction of the mound, as well as factories for making burial objects and storehouses for protecting materials and products. It is estimated that the largest kofun, Nintokuryō-kofun, built in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, took around 6.8 million man days over a period of nearly 16 years to complete. After the mound was constructed, the surface was covered with stones and terra cotta figures (haniwa).
Derived from Yayoi Period ceramic jars on stands, early haniwa were cylinders placed in circles around the central area on the top of tomb mounds. By the end of the fourth century, these cylinders had been transformed into human figures, and by the sixth century, a variety of human figures, chickens, animals, fish, buildings, and various other items were depicted, often quite realistically.
The main parts of a tomb mound are the coffin (made of wood, stone, or earthenware) for protecting the body, a stone chamber to protect the coffin, and mounded dirt to protect and conceal the stone chamber. There were two main types of chamber: pit chambers, usually for one coffin, and cave chambers for two or more coffins. In the case of a pit style chamber,
