kansaimie
Ise-Shima
Ise-Shima is a peninsula on the Pacific coast of Mie Prefecture, in the Kansai region, home to Ise Jingu, the most sacred shrine in Japan, and to the island-scattered inlets of Ago Bay.
Ago Bay from Yokoyama
- Prefecture
- Mie
- Region
- Kansai
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
The shrine of the sun goddess, and a quiet bay of pearls.
Ise Jingu is the spiritual home of Japan. Its Inner Shrine is dedicated to Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess from whom the imperial family traces its descent, and its Outer Shrine to Toyouke, the goddess of food and harvest who provides her offerings. Together with more than a hundred smaller shrines in the forests and fields around the city of Ise, they make up a single sacred precinct, and in the Edo period a pilgrimage to Ise was the great journey of ordinary lives, made in some years by several million people.
Every twenty years the main sanctuaries are rebuilt, in the same form and with the same rites, on the empty plot beside the old. The ceremony, the Shikinen Sengu, has been performed for some thirteen centuries, most recently in 2013, and with it the carpenters, weavers and smiths pass their skills from one generation to the next. The halls are of unpainted Japanese cypress, thatched and plain, in a style older than the arrival of Buddhism.
South of Ise, the Shima Peninsula breaks into a coast of drowned valleys, inlets and wooded islands. Here Kokichi Mikimoto produced the first cultured pearl in 1893, pearl rafts still float on Ago Bay, and the ama, the women divers, still go down for abalone, turban shell and seaweed. The whole region is protected as the Ise-Shima National Park, and in 2016 the leaders of the G7 met at Kashikojima, on the bay.
Our tours stay overnightOur tours visit for the dayOn a Custom Tour of Japan
see and do
What to see in Ise-Shima
Naiku, the Inner Shrine
The sanctuary of Amaterasu, approached across the Uji Bridge over the clear Isuzu River and along gravel paths through a forest of great cedars. Only the members of the imperial family and priests pass the inner fences; visitors pray at the gate, where the thatched roof can be seen above.
The Uji Bridge
A wooden bridge of a hundred metres over the Isuzu River, rebuilt with the shrines every twenty years, with a torii at each end made from the old pillars of the sanctuary.
Geku, the Outer Shrine
The sanctuary of Toyouke, where food has been offered to Amaterasu twice each day for some fifteen hundred years. By custom, pilgrims visit the Outer Shrine before the Inner.
Meoto Iwa, Futami Oharai-machi and Okage Yokocho
The street of timber shopfronts that leads to the Inner Shrine, and the lanes beside it built in the style of the Edo period, with sweet shops, sake merchants and craft stalls, and Ise udon, thick and soft in a dark soy broth.
Meoto Iwa at Futami
Two rocks in the sea off Futami Okitama Shrine, a large one and a small one, joined by a heavy rope of rice straw and honoured as a wedded couple, with the sun rising between them in the long days of summer.
Mikimoto Pearl Island
The small island in Toba Bay where the first cultured pearl was made, with a museum of pearls and the history of the industry, and demonstrations by ama divers in their white clothes.
Ago Bay from Yokoyama
The viewing terraces on Mount Yokoyama, looking across the inlets and some sixty small green islands of the bay, with the rafts of the pearl farms laid out on the water.
Kashikojima and the bay by boat
A cruise on Ago Bay from Kashikojima past the pearl rafts and islands, with a stop at a pearl farm to see an oyster opened.
Izawa-no-miya
A quiet detached shrine of the Inner Shrine near Shima, set in a grove beside the rice field where the sacred rice is planted each year.
experiences
The best of Ise-Shima
Ise Jingu with a guide
The Outer and Inner Shrines visited in the old order with someone who can explain the rites, the architecture and the meaning of the rebuilding, and the formal prayer, kagura, offered with music and dance in the hall of the Inner Shrine.
Lunch in an ama hut
Abalone, turban shell, lobster and fish grilled over charcoal in a divers' hut by the sea, cooked for you by the ama themselves, who tell you of their work between courses.
The seafood of Shima
Ise lobster, abalone, oysters from Matoya Bay and Matsusaka beef from just to the north make Ise-Shima one of the great tables of Japan, at its best in a kaiseki dinner by the bay.
A day of stillness above Ago Bay
A resort's onsen spa, fed by a hot spring, and its terraces above Ago Bay, with nothing asked of the day but a walk in the woods and the light changing on the water.
plan your visit
Ise-Shima on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two nights lets you give a full day to Ise Jingu and another to Ago Bay and the coast, and three allow for a day of real relaxation by the water.
- Getting there
- By the Kintetsu limited express from Osaka Namba to Ise in about an hour and three quarters and to Kashikojima in about two and a quarter, from Kyoto to Ise in about two hours, and from Nagoya to Ise in about ninety minutes. From Tokyo, the Shinkansen to Nagoya takes under two hours. A private car from Nagoya or Osaka takes about two hours.
- Pairs well with
- Ise-Shima is an easy two hours from Kyoto, Osaka or Nagoya, and the coast road south leads to the Kumano shrines, so it fits as the last nights of a journey in Kansai or as a bridge between Kansai and central Japan.KyotoNaraKumano KodoOsakaNagoya
where to stay
Luxury hotels and ryokan in Ise-Shima
The place to stay is on Ago Bay, where the resorts look out over the inlets and islands rather than the open sea. The resort we choose stands on a hillside above the bay, its suites and villas built low in timber and stone in the manner of a traditional village, each with its own onsen, with a large onsen spa fed by the region's hot springs.
Around Kashikojima there are hotels and ryokan on the water, and at Toba and Futami there are onsen ryokan with views of the sea, closer to Ise Jingu. For most guests, a hotel on the bay with a car to Ise for the day is the most graceful way to see both.
journeys
Ise-Shima on a private journey
We bring guests to Ise-Shima on the Custom Tour of Japan, created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director.
questions
Ise-Shima: questions answered
Why is Ise Jingu important?
Ise Jingu is the most sacred shrine in Japan, dedicated to Amaterasu, the sun goddess and ancestor of the imperial family. Its sanctuaries have been rebuilt every twenty years for some thirteen centuries.
Should you visit the Inner or the Outer Shrine first?
By custom, pilgrims visit the Outer Shrine, Geku, first and then the Inner Shrine, Naiku, which are about six kilometres apart and a short drive from each other.
How do you get to Ise-Shima from Kyoto or Osaka?
By the Kintetsu limited express, about two hours from Kyoto and an hour and three quarters from Osaka to Ise, or by private car in about two hours.
How many days do you need in Ise-Shima?
Two nights, with one day for Ise Jingu and Oharai-machi and another for Ago Bay, the pearls and the coast; three nights for a slower pace.
Who are the ama divers?
The ama are women who dive without breathing equipment for abalone, shellfish and seaweed, a tradition of some two thousand years that continues on the Shima Peninsula, where many of the remaining ama in Japan still work.
Where was the first cultured pearl made?
On Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba Bay, where Kokichi Mikimoto produced the first cultured pearl in 1893. Ago Bay is still one of the centres of pearl farming in Japan.
Can Ise-Shima be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Ise-Shima included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Ise-Shima, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Ise-Shima, and we will answer with a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone, or, if you would rather travel independently, an Expert Japan Itinerary that plans every day for you.