Ise-Kogakkan Study Program 2023

Tourism created before-during-after WWII (bomb damage photo) Pilgrimage during the feudal years of Tokugawa times included elements of modern tourism (seeing sights, buying souvenirs, engaging in things out of the ordinary, dreaming of going, recounting after returning home), but the concept of "leisure" and the logistical possibility of recreational traveling as something named "tourism" (kanko, 観光) came closely associated with rail service around the country in the 1910s and later, including for school graduation excursions, for instance. Pr. H. brought illustrations, photos, words and music from a period wind-up record player for 78 rpm disks to bring all this to life from 100 years ago, along with picture postcards and 1-sen coins of the daily life 100 years ago.  Following on from the roots of tourism and the Jingu visits by people from near or far, Pr. S. presented the several varieties of rituals conducted annually and more infrequently at the Inner and the O...

Torii at left, Tokugawa hollyhock marked tiles, birdseye display In the continuing sunny weather of late winter we learned about the religious landscape of sun and sea and mountains from Pr. H. to begin the day and then moved to the top floor of one of the biggest buildings on campus to enjoy the view over Ise city on the one side and the line of the mountains tied to Mt. Asama on the other side. There Pr. T. invited impressions from the international gathering of seminar participants on the subject of how best to describe Japanese relationships to (organized) religion. Certainly there are institutions that cultivate knowledge and experience, train experts, and care for people's needs during and after life. Moral direction and connections between the living and the dearly departed can be seen all around Japan today and in other times, but underneath the many facets that have some religious significance there is a foundational orientation to family and higher powers in some form wh...

At the Outer Shrine visitors await the bus to the Inner Shrine  Much sun and moderate wind made Sunday a fine day to avoid the Outer Shrine crowds and walk along the Setagawa River, and then turn at the Ise Furuichi Sangu Kaido (伊勢古市参宮街道) where it meets the river and walk along the rising narrow road as it curves this way and that way until it reaches the history center, the 伊勢古市参宮街道資料館, Ise Furuichi Sangu-kaido Shiryokan. According to the man in the office it was not until cars began to appear that the gravel surface was paved and thereby raised (between 1920 and 1930). The standard travel time in the Edo decades to get to Ise Jingu from the Tokyo (Edo) area was between 15 and 20 days on foot; about 5 from Kyoto or Osaka if making 30 km per day or faster. In those days the precincts around the Outer and Inner Shrines had some of the biggest, most well-known pleasure quarters - in the top five around the islands. Married pilgrims might see local sights (the view atop Mt. Asak...

  shaping chopsticks, then burning a pattern in the wood Saturday morning we set off for the outskirts of Ise by bus, accompanied by several members of the international exchange volunteers to make something compact, functional, and with a bit of beauty - at least in the eye of the beholder. We sanded, shaped, and burned patterns or words into our very own chopsticks. Coming a day after a field trip to the Sengu-kan at the Outer Shrine, where refined work of weaving, forging, gilding, joinery, and so many other forms of skilled craft are documented, our own efforts were so much more modest. However, by sharing in something enjoyable together, it was easy to exchange experiences and ideas freely, getting to know each other a little better. The weather was brilliant blue skies with strong gusts of wind on and off. So after the group dispersed at the station near the hotel it was a good chance to walk around the city center in search of the Ise city library. A helpful staff member th...

adjacent to the worship ground for the kami, Tomouke  Pr. S. talked about the shrine grounds of the Geku in connection to the surrounding residential and business streets of Yamada, long before today's Ise City combined this town with several others in the surrounding land. This lecture was followed by the development of Ise more generally by Pr. T. who concluded by showing how instrumental the Ise Jingu has been (and is still today) to the way that decisions were made, priorities were established, and lives were lived out in feudal times and what followed with industrialization, democracy, and the reign of consumerism now. After lunch we ventured aboard an unexpectedly full city bus to reach the Geku not far from our hotel.  There Pr. S. guided us through some of the highlights at the Sengu-kan , an exhibit hall made from the renewal work last completed in the 2013 cycle of 20-year, generational building of shrines to replace the old ones. The light rain persisted, so our gro...

 The mild day ended with bouts of sun breaking through the clouds to shine on the crowds of visitors both distant and ones closer to home. This video clip shows the sakaki sprigs that ring the no-camera, sacred interior of the place to pay one's respects to the kami, Toyouke. There is something wondrous about the flutter of the zigzag paper strips or the leaves of trees moving in the passing breeze. The subject of tradition comes to mind and the way each generation takes the baton with its own hands and with some influence of its own time. Researchers have shown that non-verbal rituals, in particular, can transmit forms well for many generations, but also that the definition of tradition involves one generation giving up control to the next one. So there is usually some small change along the way. Indeed, certain practices that people suppose existed "forever" have a birth date of their own; that is, the ritual or verbal art began in some moment. Question-1 : for the root...

   Today was the first chance to test the commuter bus IC cards to ride to the campus and walk up the hill to the library, where sessions are being held during the university's spring break. We learned about the history of the Ise Jingu (collective group of lands, shrines, kami, religious specialists and traditions, as well as all those coming to pay their respects) from Pr. I and after a short break we continued in lecture and question-answer with Pr. S, who features most prominently in the 2023 cycle of the Ise and Japan Study Program as field trip guide, lecturer, and source of encouragement to the seminarians. For the Wednesday morning session, we learned about the afternoon's subject to visit, the Inner Shrine of the Jingu, known as the Naiku or Kotai Jingu , ( map ) where one of the earliest and most prominent kami is celebrated, Amaterasu-no-Omikami ( 天照大御神 ). No cameras or recording beyond the bottom step to the Kotai Jingu . Being encouraged to offer our own respe...

arriving at Kogakkan University for opening ceremony, orientation, lecture Part of the program, now in the 9th iteration - begun in spring 2014 and with Covid hiatus in 2020 & 2021, is for scholars young and old to get started in the many-faceted world of Japan through the lens of Shinto thought, practices, places and heritage. And another part is to rely on participants to interpret their weeks of study and field trips for others to learn, too. Thanks to the increasing place of social media in personal and professional communication and imagination, everyone will be posting on platforms of their choice, incrementally forming a larger picture of the subject for others to see, hear, or read. Covid is subsiding in a relative sense and so travel is getting easier. People will be able to gather from many places without dread of virus transmission. But that time has not fully arrived yet, so February 20 all participants supplied saliva samples for same-day processing in the PCR.LAMP tes...

   Day-one included three online sessions, beginning with an overview of tourism subjects and resources and developments in the city of Ise as told by Mr. M. of the tourism section at city hall. While the Covid-19 screening was being processed by PCR.LAMP tests from saliva samples, after lunch we heard about the premodern major chapters in the shrines and surroundings at Ise from Pr. O. We had an intermission and then watched a pre-recorded exploration of the program itself, along with useful books and websites to consult when developing one's own topic of investigation during the 3 weeks we are together. Then we had a lively Q and A with Pr. M. (in English this once) on related matters from the 51-minute Youtube video recording that he'd produced. That left a little daylight before the suppers were given us at 6 p.m. so I returned to the nearby spacious grounds of Suwa Jinja and the connected public space of Suwa Park at the city center of Yokkaichi . With the light fading a...