↑ is the entrance of Ise grand shrine Naiku with rising sun.
"Not sure who's here, though
Shedding tears
filled with awe"
"なにごとの おはしますかは 知らねども かたじけなさに 涙こぼるる"
Composed by Saigyō(1118-1190) who is a Buddhist monk and poet when he visited and worshiped to Ise grand shrine.
It's often said this poem is represented one showing well what's faith of the Japanese. It shows that it's not necessarily to identify what you worship (regardless of either god or buddha), but what important thing is whether you can feel sacredness.
The following images I posted were taken at Kazahi no minomiya(one enshrining wind gods) in the precincts of Ise grand shrine Naikū, it's thought Buddhist monks were allowed to worship only from around this area before.↓
The following image is a map of the shrine↓
A place with a blue underline is the main hall and one with a red underline is Kazahi no minomiya.
Matsuo Bashō(1644-1694) was also visited to Ise grand shine Naiku, but he had been refused to worship stepping into the most inner space of the shrine because he looked like a monk such as the shaved head.
On the other hand, he composed an interesting poem bellow when he stayed in the Ise area,
"A Nirvana image here
unexpectedly
within the sanctuary for the god"
"神垣や おもひもかけず 涅槃像"
It's fun because as if these poems show a complex(rather loose or confused😅) environment of relationship between Shinto and Buddhism in old times of Japan.
One more, I would like to introduce an interesting thing. There is a concept “Imi-kotoba” means “taboo words”.
There are words that it's believed if you utter them it will bring bad luck, right? So you replace them with another word, e.g."Oh my goodness", "Darn it!", and you replace a kind of faery with "good people" "little people"
There were some taboo words in Ise grand shrine before, what one of the most funny ones is about "Buddhist monk". It was forbidden to utter a word corresponding to "Buddhist monk(such as 法師)" in the precincts of the shrine, so people used after replacing it with "Kami-naga". It means..."Long haired"!
Is it like you call Kerry King Dave Mustaine? (Sorry, it's a joke of Heavy Metal😆)
