One wish for every female
One of the highlight of my Japan trip last year was to see the Ama divers at Ise. They are ladies whose average age is about 65 and they free dive without any oxygen tanks. Ise has the largest concentration of Ama divers, and traditionally the Ama visit the Shinmei Shrine to pray for protection.
The Shinmei Shrine is also known as the Ishigami San, and it is located on the top of a small hill which is about 5 minutes walk away from the car park. Like all Japanese shrines, you should cleanse yourself when you arrive. There is a ritual to do this, and if you're not sure how to do it, there's normally instructions nearby. Failing that, just watch what the locals do.
There is a series of torii gates after you walk pass the main entrance. Torii gates are an essential part of Japanaese shrines and signifies the entrance to the sacred area. The further you walk through these gates, the more sacred the area you are venturing towards.
This is the main building of the Shrine. I peeped inside and it looked like it was the main praying area and there was an office as well. It didn't look as interesting as the other buildings, mainly because it was so new. I think like all other religious buildings, the beauty lies in its history.
It is said that the goddess at the Shinmei Shrine grants one wish to every female. That's why it is very popular with the Ama divers as their work is very dangerous. This is the goddess's shrine, and it looks new as well. I think they must have rebuilt it in recent years as I saw some photos on internet from two years ago and it looked different. I wished they had left it as before. The actual goddess, or rather her soul or spirit depending on how you look at it, is still the same. She is enshrined in a 60cm small called Ishigami San, that's why Shinmei Shrine is also known as Ishigami San which means stone deity.
Shinmei Shrine isn't very large. In fact I think I've show you all the buildings including the one below which from memory is the only one they didn't rebuild. All in all I spent about 20 minutes here. It may be a small shrine, but over the years it has been and still is an integral part of Ama culture. Hopefully it will continue to protect the Amas in the years to come.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://livinguktaiwan.com/one-wish-for-every-female/
Check out all my travel posts here on Steemit Worldmap, and also my latest project @LadiesOfAsia where we share fun and cultural diversity across Asia Pacific.
 |
|---|
Thanks for an interesting walkthrough of the Shinmei shrine, @livinguktaiwan. I, too, saw the Ama divers when I went to see the Ise Grand Shrine, and their constitution is really something else. Did you get to see the museum for cultivated pearls as well? I found it super interesting too
I was only at Ise for a day, to go out to the sea with the Amas and watch them diving, so didn't really have time to go anywhere else. I did pass by it though .
Hi, @livinguktaiwan!
You just got a 0.98% upvote from SteemPlus!
To get higher upvotes, earn more SteemPlus Points (SPP). On your Steemit wallet, check your SPP balance and click on "How to earn SPP?" to find out all the ways to earn.
If you're not using SteemPlus yet, please check our last posts in here to see the many ways in which SteemPlus can improve your Steem experience on Steemit and Busy.
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=livinguktaiwan
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=onewishforeveryfemale-4stkpmsbq8
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @elsaenroute and earned you a reward, in form of a 100% upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!
Learn more about our travel project by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord
This is super interesting! Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Hi @livinguktaiwan!
Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 5.045 which ranks you at #1101 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has dropped 10 places in the last three days (old rank 1091).
In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 173 contributions, your post is ranked at #41.
Evaluation of your UA score:
Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
Manually curated by @livvu.
@helpie is a Community Witness.
For more information about our project,
please visit this month’s UPDATE post.
So interesting to read. So many other cultures lack these traditions and rituals. Though it might not always makes sense to us it's often to me personally wonderful how some cultures are so steeped in these rituals and traditions. Thank you for sharing this.
Posted using Partiko Android