Izumo Taisha

I have wanted to visited this shrine for a very long time. My students told me about the major shrine where all the deities in the country went for a week in the fall. This is it.

Izumo is one of the most important shrines in Japan.  Every year, from the 10th to the 17th day of the 10th lunar month (usually falls in November), all of the shinto deities from across Japan gather at Izumo Taisha for a meeting. I don’t know much about Shintoism, but I thought this left the rest of Japan unprotected during this time.

I took a bus from in front of the train station in Izumo, to the shrine. The shrine grounds are quite large, with many different buildings.

I was amazed by how thick this Shimenawa (Shrine rope) is. They are usually made of rice straw and are believed to ward off evil spirits and invite good fortune. 

The building below is Kaguraden (sacred dance hall). The shimenawa rope measures 13.6 meters in length, 8 meters in girth, and weighs 5.2 metric tons. It is woven by a group of volunteers from Iinan in central Shimane and replaced every 6 to 8 years.

I walked all around and found these maps helpful.

I think the picture above is the jukusha - the housing for visiting deities.

The building below is the Haiden (worship hall).

Below are photos of the Statue of Musubi, depicting the encounter of Okuninushi with a divine light.

This is the Pathway of Pine Trees.

This grassy area with the rabbits is called the Monument of Marriage.

Below is the Honden, the main sanctuary.