Ise Jingu Geku

photo by Oilstreet · CC BY 2.5

photo by そらみみ · CC BY-SA 4.0

For 1,500 years food has been offered to the goddess twice a day, at 8:00 and 15:00, without a break.

Tradition has it that a visit to Ise begins here and not at the Naiku: this is the precept of 外宮先祭 (Geku first). Inside the grounds, the Mike-den is the sacred kitchen where twice a day (one offering in the morning at about 8:00, one in the afternoon at about 15:00) food is prepared and carried to the goddess Toyouke, who according to myth was invited here in the time of Emperor Yūryaku to feed Amaterasu. As at the Naiku, the buildings are rebuilt exactly the same every 20 years.

The Geku (外宮), formally Toyouke Daijingū, is dedicated to Toyouke, deity of food and agriculture. More compact and less crowded than the Naiku, it shares the same architectural style and the same twenty-year rebuilding cycle (式年遷宮).

ℹ️ Free entry, same hours as the Naiku (5:00–17:00, extended to 18:00 from January to April and in September). The main sanctuary alone takes 20–30 minutes; with the subsidiary shrines, about an hour. 15 minutes' walk from JR/Kintetsu Ise-shi Station.

🚉 Iseshi · 8 min walk

Sources: isejingu.or.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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