A Trip to Ise

Recently, I had the good fortune to be able to go on a trip to Ise with my wife and a friend of ours.  Ise is a very old and traditional place in Japan with a great deal of historical significance.  It’s also very cold.  Our main objective was a visit to Ise Jingu, the large Shinto shrine there.  Apparently it was a good idea, because the rest of Japan decided to join us there.  As anyone who has ever lived in Tokyo knows, it’s a very rare case indeed to go anywhere without a hazardously large amount of people.  I had hoped that Ise, being far out in the countryside, would be different.  It was not.

The Line to the Main Shrine at Ise Jingu

In addition to the inconveniently large number of visitors, there also exists a strange superstition about the shrine.  According to the superstition,  any couple who visits the temple together will break up soon afterwards.  After learning of this, I understandably became a bit suspicious of my wife’s invitation to go.  When I asked her about it, though, she had a laugh and said that we were immune because we were married.  Good to know!  So far, it’s been 2 days, and we haven’t had any problems.

Even in the face of these insurmountable odds, we ended up having a really great trip.  We got to see everything at Ise Jingu and bought some souvenirs on the old-fashioned shopping street adjacent to it, my personal favorite being fresh tofu donuts.  I know it sounds strange, but they were actually quite delicious.  I believe this had something to do with the fact that they tasted nothing like tofu and everything like donuts.  After all that, we retired to a really nice ryokan, which is like a traditional Japanese hotel.  It was a very nice room, that was actually a bit larger than my current apartment, and it had what I assume was a fantastic view of the ocean, though we never really got to see it.  It was too dark by the time we arrived at night, and too foggy the next morning.  We did however get to enjoy the onsen, or hot spring, with about 15 different bathing facilities in and around the building, so overall it was a really great experience.

Our Room at the Ryokan

I definitely recommend it to anyone, though you might consider going during the summer if you’re not used to Antarctic temperatures.  Also, be careful of going there with a loved one if you’re not married, I guess.  My wife did say that there would be plenty of people at the shrine asking the gods for love, so, if you’re single, have at it!  If that’s not enough, there’s also a very interesting theme park nearby, which I plan on writing about in my next post. Stay tuned!