The Futami Okitama shrine is a Shinto shrine in the town of Futami-ura, part
of the city of Ise, in Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is known for its proximity to
the Meoto Iwa rocks, which serve as torii gates for believers offering prayers
to the sun.
The shrine is dedicated to the Shinto deity Sarutahiko Okami and worships the
Meoto Iwa rocks, which represent the gods Izanagi and Izanami. Because of its
proximity, 700 m from the coast, it is common for couples to go to the shrine
to pray for their marriage.
The temple is a typical purification stop before visiting the Ise Grand
Shrine, through the ceremony of harae, pilgrims used to bathe in the
waters of Futami and then go to the neighboring shrine.
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Futami Okitama Shrine map.
Futamigaura Beach is located in the ancient city of Ujiyamada, now Ise,
in Mie Prefecture, which is washed by the Sea of Genkai, at the
southwestern end of the Sea of Japan.
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Statue of Guanyin at the entrance to the shrine.
Guanyin is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion.
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She is the East Asian representation of Avalokitesvara and has been
adopted by other Eastern religions.
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She was first given the appellation "Goddess of Mercy" or "Mercy
Goddess" by Jesuit missionaries in China.
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In Japanese, Guanyin is pronounced Kannon, occasionally Kan'on, or
more formally Kanzeon.
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See more at
Guanyin - Wikipedia.
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Matchmaking Song Monument.
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Crossing the torii.
A torii is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the
entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the
transition from the mundane to the sacred.
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The function of a torii is to mark the entrance to a sacred space. For
this reason, the road leading to a Shinto shrine (sando) is
almost always straddled by one or more torii, which are therefore the
easiest way to distinguish a shrine from a Buddhist temple.
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See more at
Torii - Wikipedia.
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Stone lantern (Toro).
Stone lanterns (Chinese: denglong; Japanese: toro, meaning
'light basket', 'light tower') are a type of traditional East Asian
lantern made of stone, wood, or metal.
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Originating in China, stone lanterns spread to Japan, Korea and
Vietnam, though they are most commonly found in both China – extant in
Buddhist temples and traditional Chinese gardens – and Japan.
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In Japan, toro were originally used only in Buddhist temples,
where they lined and illuminated paths. Lit lanterns were then
considered an offering to Buddha.
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Their use in Shinto shrines and also private homes started during the
Heian period (794–1185).
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See more at
Stone lantern - Wikipedia.
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Approaching Watasumi shrine.
Watasumi no okami is a kami of the sea who is considered native to this
area and enshrined in Ryugusha, a small shrine near the rear entrance to
Futami.
- Miki barrels can be seen on the left side.
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Miki (o-miki, with the honorific prefix o) and shinshu is a type of
sake, the traditional Japanese beer. It is a fermented drink
consecrated and offered among other foods (shinsen) to kami,
the deities of Shinto.
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Sake is an essential part of offerings of foods, and is offered to the
gods during rituals.
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The meaning of this ceremony is to receive the sake that has been
offered to the gods and in which the spirit resides, and to eat and
drink the same food as the gods as well as other food offerings.
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See more at
Omiki - Wikipedia.
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Water ablution pavilion (Chozuya).
Chozu-ya or temizu-ya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion for a
ceremonial purification rite known as temizu or chozu
(lit. 'hand-water'). The pavilion contains a large water-filled basin
called a chozubachi ('hand water basin').
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At shrines, these chozubachi are used by worshippers for washing their
left hands, right hands, mouth and finally the handle of the water
ladle to purify themselves before approaching the main Shinto shrine
or shaden.
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This symbolic purification is normal before worship and all manned
shrines have this facility, as well as many Buddhist temples and some
new religious houses of worship.
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See more at
Chōzuya - Wikipedia.
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Guardian dragons (Komainu).
Komainu, often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of
lion-like creatures either guarding the entrance or the honden, or inner
shrine of many Japanese Shinto shrines or kept inside the inner shrine
itself, where they are not visible to the public.
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Starting from the Edo period (1603–1868) other animals have been used
instead of lions or dogs, among others wild boars, tigers, dragons and
foxes.
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Meant to ward off evil spirits, modern komainu statues usually are
almost identical, but one has the mouth open, the other closed. The
two forms are called a-gyō (lit. '"a" shape') and un-gyō (lit. '"un"
shape') or referred to collectively as a-un.
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The open mouth is pronouncing the first letter of the Sanskrit
alphabet, which is pronounced "a", while the closed one is uttering
the last letter, which is pronounced "um", to represent the beginning
and the end of all things. Together they form the sound Aum, a
syllable sacred in several religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and
Jainism.
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See more at
Komainu - Wikipedia.
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Frog statue.
The grounds of the enclosure are decorated with numerous statues of
frogs.
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According to the beliefs, these attract people and objects back.
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The faithful whose prayers were fulfilled donate the figures of
amphibians.
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Owata Tsumi shrine.
The enshrined deity Owata Tsumi no Kami is revered as the guardian deity
of the sea, and this shrine is worshiped by people all over the country
concerned with fishing boats, the safety of maritime traffic, and the
satisfaction of a large catch.
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Shinto mirror (Shinkyou).
A Shinto mirror (Shinkyou) is a mirror sacred in Shinto. Some mirrors
are enshrined in the main hall of a shrine as a sacred object of the
divine spirit, or are placed in front of the deity in a hall of worship.
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Mirrors in ancient Japan represented truth because they merely
reflected what was shown, and were a source of much mystique and
reverence.
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It's believed a mirror helps a believer see a true image of themselves
and their devotion and worshipping the divine within themselves.
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See more at
Mirrors in Shinto - Wikipedia.
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Votive plaques (Ema).
Ema (lit. 'picture-horse') are small wooden plaques, common to Japan, in
which Shinto and Buddhist worshippers write prayers or wishes. Ema are
left hanging up at the shrine, where the kami (spirits or gods) are
believed to receive them.
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Typically 15 cm (5.9 in) wide and 9 cm (3.5 in) tall, they often carry
images or are shaped like animals, or symbols from the zodiac, Shinto,
or the particular shrine or temple.
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Once inscribed with a wish, ema are hung at the shrine until they are
ritually burned at special events, symbolic of the liberation of the
wish from the writer.
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See more at
Ema (Shinto) - Wikipedia.
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The pine tree of the pact, Norinaga Motoori poem monument.
Motoori Norinaga (21 June 1730 – 5 November 1801) was a Japanese scholar
of Kokugaku active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as
one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
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Norinaga took the view that the heritage of ancient Japan was one of
natural spontaneity in feelings and spirit, and that imported
Confucianism ran counter to such natural feelings.
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«If one should ask you concerning the spirit of a true Japanese, point
to the wild cherry blossom shining in the morning sun.» — Motoori
Norinaga, "Shikishima no Uta"
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See more at
Motoori Norinaga - Wikipedia.
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Purification bridge (Misogibashi).
A bridge symbolizes traveling and transition from one state to another,
or from one ‘world’ to another.
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Married Couple Rocks (Meoto Iwa).
Married Couple Rocks (Meoto Iwa) are a kind of rock formation seen as
religiously significant in Shinto.
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According to Shinto, the rocks represent the union of the creator
kami, Izanagi and Izanami. The rocks, therefore, celebrate the union
in marriage of man and woman.
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The larger rock, said to be male, has a small torii at its peak.
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See more at
Meoto Iwa - Wikipedia.
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Rope of rice straw (Shimenawa).
They are joined by a shimenawa (a heavy rope of rice straw) and are
considered sacred by worshippers of the shrine.
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Shimenawa are placed on objects considered to attract spirits or be
inhabited by them.
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The shimenawa, composed of five separate strands which each weigh 40
kilograms, must be replaced several times a year in a special
ceremony.
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See more at
Shimenawa - Wikipedia.
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Futami frog.
Frogs are said to be messengers of Sarutahiko Okami, the enshrined deity
of Futami Okitama Shrine, and many frogs are displayed.
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Amaterasu and Imperial Palace shrine.
Torii gate which faces the Married Couple Rocks (Meoto Iwa), and is a
place of worship for Amaterasu and the Imperial Palace.
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In ancient Japan, it was customary for every clan to claim descendancy
from gods (ujigami) and the royal family or clan tended to
define their ancestor as the dominant or most important kami of the
time.
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Rather than establish sovereignty by the manner of claimed godhood
over the nation however, the Emperor and the imperial family stood as
the bond between the heavens and the earth by claims of descending
from the goddess Amaterasu, instead dealing in affairs related with
the gods than any major secular political event, with few cases
scattered about history.
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It was not until the Meiji period and the establishment of the Empire,
that the Emperor began to be venerated along with a growing sense of
nationalism.
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See more at
Imperial cult - Wikipedia.
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Receiving explanations.
Keiko (local guide) and Eric Bouteloup (lecturer) explain the importance
of Futami Okitama Shrine.
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Futami Okitama shrine.
The main deity enshrined here is Sarutahiko, who guided Ninigi in his
descent from heaven to Mount Takachiho in Kyushu.
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The kami Sarutahiko is considered by some scholars to come from the
toyoko no kuni or the ne no kuni, both believed to be
lands across or under the sea, and the okimitama is said to be
the place he first alighted in this world.
- Sarutahiko is also thought by some to be a solar deity.
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Okitama was considered the gate to the palace of the sea god and a
kind of place for the sun kami to enter the world (yorishiro).
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Scholars have speculated that the original location of Ise Jingu was
near the beach and that Okitama served as a yorishiro for Amaterasu’s
descent, when the first shrine princess (saigu) Yamatohime came
looking for a place to enshrine the sacred mirror. It is recorded that
she found the land here so beautiful that she had to “look back twice”
(futami ura).
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Amano-Iwato cave with Uzume statue.
Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is the goddess of dawn, mirth, meditation,
revelry and the arts in the Shinto religion of Japan. She famously
helped draw out the missing sun deity, Amaterasu, when she had hid
herself in a cave.
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Amaterasu's brother, the storm god Susano'o, had vandalized her rice
fields, threw a flayed horse at her loom, and brutally killed one of
her maidens due to a quarrel between them. In turn, Amaterasu became
furious with him and retreated into the Heavenly Rock Cave,
Amano-Iwato. The world, without the illumination of the sun, became
dark and the gods could not lure Amaterasu out of her hiding place.
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The clever Uzume overturned a tub near the cave entrance and began to
dance on it, tearing off her clothing in front of the other deities.
They considered this so comical that they laughed heartily at the
sight. This dance is said to have founded the Japanese ritual dance,
Kagura.
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Uzume had hung a bronze mirror and a beautiful jewel of polished jade.
Amaterasu heard them, and peered out to see what the commotion was
about. When she opened the cave, she saw the jewel and her glorious
reflection in a mirror which Uzume had placed on a tree, and slowly
came out from her clever hiding spot.
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See more at
Ame-no-Uzume - Wikipedia
and
Amano-Iwato - Wikipedia.
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Planted landscape (Saikei).
Inside Ise Meotoiwa Shopping there are planted landscapes
(saikei) for sale.
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Saikei literally translates as "planted landscape". Saikei is a
descendant of the Japanese arts of bonsai, bonseki, and bonkei.
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It is the art of creating tray landscapes that combine miniature
living trees with soil, rocks, water, and related vegetation (like
ground cover) in a single tray or similar container.
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A typical saikei is contained in a large ceramic tray with low sides.
Within the tray, rocks and soil are arranged to suggest a natural
landscape, often modeled on a specific type of real landscape like a
seaside or a mountain path.
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See more at
Saikei - Wikipedia.
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See also
Sources
Location
