This was my approach to the Youth Hostel in Ise (actually Futami-no-Ura, the neighboring town, but whatever). I knew that the hostel had the same name as a local temple, but the taxi driver dropped me off right here (actually down the hill a little, but those pictures aren't as good). It was raining, and quite magical. Just inside the gate are your standard angry guardian statues and everything. Then after I checked in, the monk (who looked middle-aged and had hair) showed me the Boddhisatva inside the temple. It was beautiful, really a once in a lifetime experience. He told me that it's been designated a National Treasure, and was from the Kamakura era.

Next day I went to see the "wedded rocks," which I posted about yesterday. They were smaller than i had imagined, but still pretty cool.

Ise proper has two shrine complexes, the 外宮　Geku , outer shrine, and the 内宮, Naigu inner shrine. The outer shrine is devoted to the goddess of the harvest, who really just guards the offerings to the Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess and most important god in Japan. You can't take pictures of the real things, but here's an example of an auxiliary shrine to get a sense of the architecture.
Passed a catholic church between shrines, lol.

During the Edo period, people would say "at least once in my life I want to go to Ise." Here I am, as close as you're allowed to photograph to the main shrine.


All in all, it wasn't as moving as anything in Italy, but still a wonderful side trip.