The Izumo shrine is a meeting place for all the Shinto gods. During the tenth month of the lunar calendar, all of the Shinto deities come to the Izumo shrine for their annual meeting. This has caused this month to be known as the “month with deities” in the Izumo province and the “month without deities” everywhere else in Japan (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica.)
The architecture of the Izumo shrine is called Taisha-style, which is the oldest style of architecture for shrines. Taisha-style architecture uses the design of the village houses of ancient Japan. In Taisha-style shrines, the buildings have gabled roofs, are raised off the ground, and have planked walls. The Izumo shrine’s main hall embodies this type of architecture. The interior has four sections with a pillar in the center and straw mats covering the floor ("Izumo Taisha•• Shrine in Izumo".)
The Izumo shrine has been rebuilt many times, becoming smaller each of those times, to reach its current size of 24 meters in height and 11 meters wide at the base. Until 1744, the shrine was fully rebuilt about every sixty years, which supports the Shinto tradition of purification. However, more recently, the shrine has been maintained by large renovations rather than complete …show more content…
The next thing you will see is a torii gate, which symbolizes the boundary between the everyday world that we live in and the world of the kami (essences found in all things). Since the gate does not provide any actual boundary, the shrine is always open to the public (Van Voorst, Robert E.) If you keep walking toward the shrine you will encounter three paths; it is said the center path is reserved for the gods so you should take either the left or the right one. At the end of these paths, you will encounter another torii gate which is the actual entrance to the main grounds of the shrine ("Izumo Taisha•• Shrine in
The architecture of the Izumo shrine is called Taisha-style, which is the oldest style of architecture for shrines. Taisha-style architecture uses the design of the village houses of ancient Japan. In Taisha-style shrines, the buildings have gabled roofs, are raised off the ground, and have planked walls. The Izumo shrine’s main hall embodies this type of architecture. The interior has four sections with a pillar in the center and straw mats covering the floor ("Izumo Taisha•• Shrine in Izumo".)
The Izumo shrine has been rebuilt many times, becoming smaller each of those times, to reach its current size of 24 meters in height and 11 meters wide at the base. Until 1744, the shrine was fully rebuilt about every sixty years, which supports the Shinto tradition of purification. However, more recently, the shrine has been maintained by large renovations rather than complete …show more content…
The next thing you will see is a torii gate, which symbolizes the boundary between the everyday world that we live in and the world of the kami (essences found in all things). Since the gate does not provide any actual boundary, the shrine is always open to the public (Van Voorst, Robert E.) If you keep walking toward the shrine you will encounter three paths; it is said the center path is reserved for the gods so you should take either the left or the right one. At the end of these paths, you will encounter another torii gate which is the actual entrance to the main grounds of the shrine ("Izumo Taisha•• Shrine in