We came to Ise today which is a small town (city?) on the eastern shore of Japan. It's famous for its Shinto shrines, and every New Year's, thousands of people flock here to celebrate an important Shinto holiday.
The shrines at Ise are hugely important in architecture because they're some of the oldest examples of early Shinto buildings, and they date from around 400 A.D. There are two shrine complexes: the outer shrine, Gekku, and the inner shrine, Naikko. Naikko is more popular because of its setting in a sacred forest of ancient trees. Seriously, these things are redwood-sized. What makes the shrines at both places remarkable is that every 20 years, they are rebuilt on a site right beside the site of the existing shrine. So, they flip flop between sites. The next switch happens in 2013, and they've already begun construction on the new site. No new building methods or materials can be used, and the wood comes from a special forest. It's Japanese cypress that is mortis and tenon-ed together (no nails or bolts), and they embellish the buildings with golden metalwork.
When they tear down the old building, they send the wood to shrines across Japan for repairs because it's so sacred. I'll upload a picture of one of the shrines tomorrow when the internet is better, but it's just a replica of a less sacred shrine. The actual inner shrines are enclosed in two fenced off areas and can't be fully seen or photographed. You can only see their roofs peeking over the wooden fences. Only the Emperor is allowed in the shrine to see the treasure kept there. I'm close to that sort of imperial power, but I'm not there yet.
Off to Tokyo tomorrow morning. Will I die of excitement before then? Maybe!
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