The theme of this edition of Ise Grand Shrine is the abundant nature that supports the shrine. In particular, we will focus on the vast shrine forest known as the "Shingū no Mori," which is not easily visible to worshippers, and introduce how this forest supports the operations of the shrine and plays an essential role in the Shikinen Sengu ceremonies.

When I pass through the large torii gate of the Inner Shrine and cross the Uji Bridge, I always stop to take a deep breath and gaze out at the clear waters of the Isuzu River. Behind me is Mount Kamiji, whose color and atmosphere change with the seasons.

I feel that the rich nature of the shrine has a resetting effect that calms the mind and body back to their proper state.

The purpose of visiting Ise Shrine is, of course, to offer thanks to Amaterasu Omikami, the main deity of the Imperial Grand Shrine of Ise (Naiku), the ancestral deity of the Imperial family, and the chief deity of us Japanese people, for having been able to live safely up until now.
On the other hand, I feel that by opening my eyes and ears to the various natural sights that surround me, such as the large trees that come into view as I walk the long approach to the shrine, the clear waters of the Isuzu River, and the towering mountains that seem to protect the main shrine, I can feel a refreshing breeze blowing through my mind and body, which have become rough and sluggish in my daily life, and leaving me feeling completely clean.

Known as the "Shingū no Mori" (Forest of the Grand Shrine), the vast area of ​​the shrine's forest serves as a

The shrine's forests cover a total area of ​​5,500 hectares, roughly the same size as Setagaya Ward in Tokyo and a quarter of the size of Ise City.

This shrine forest, commonly known as the Jingu forest, extends to the south, surrounding the Inner Shrine, and is divided into three areas.

The first is an area where the scenic beauty is protected and maintained, such as the sacred grounds of the Inner Shrine and the Outer Shrine. The second is the entire mountain that can be seen from the Uji Bridge area, and is an area where as much as possible of the natural environment is to be maintained, with the exception of cases where it would impede the growth of trees, such as removing dead trees. Together, these two areas are called the First Shrine Forest.

The third area, known as the Second Shrine Forest, covers an area of ​​approximately 3000 hectares and will be used to plant cypress trees that will be used for the Shikinen Sengu ceremony over a period of 2 to 300 years.

On November 18, 2025, a tree-planting ceremony was held in the Second Shrine Forest, where approximately 600 new cypress seedlings were planted.

A tree-planting ceremony to plant cypress seedlings that will be used as timber for the government 200 years from now

It takes about 20 minutes to head up the Isuzu River toward the top of Mt. Shinji. The car turns left along the way and continues on an unpaved forest road. On both sides is the dense Miyagi forest. In addition to cypress, there is a mixture of broad-leaved trees such as camphor trees and sakaki oaks.

The Tree Planting Festival, which began in 1950 and is now in its 76th year, is a relatively new event in the long history of the shrine. It is usually held in the spring, but in 2025 it was moved to autumn due to the schedule of festivals related to the Shikinen Sengu (periodical rebuilding of the shrine).

The cultivation, conservation, and management of the shrine forest, including the planting of cypress trees, began in 1923. At that time, the Jingu Forest Management Plan was drawn up to secure cypress trees that would be used by the shrine for 200 years to come.

How Jingu Forest changes with the times, and what remains the same

At the shrine, 65 new buildings, including the main halls of the Inner Shrine and Outer Shrine, are constructed each time the Shikinen Sengu ceremony is held every 20 years.

More than 10,000 cypress trees are needed for one Sengu ceremony. Most are chest-height trees with a diameter of 50-60cm, but some are huge trees over 1m in diameter, such as for the ridge pillars and doors of the main hall.

However, from about 1,300 years before the Shikinen Sengu ceremony began until the Kamakura period, timber for official use could be cut down from the forests surrounding the shrine, such as Mount Shinji and Mount Shimaji, which are now the shrine grounds forests.

However, it gradually became difficult to find suitable timber, and after various changes, from the Edo period onwards, the Kiso mountains also became designated as misomayama (clean mountains from which timber for the government was cut) for logging, a practice that continues to this day.

During the Edo period, there was an unprecedented boom in pilgrimages to Ise Shrine, and this was a time when trees around the shrine were cut down in great numbers. Large amounts of firewood and charcoal were needed to accommodate the huge number of pilgrims. As a result, flooding of the Isuzu River and landslides occurred repeatedly during the Meiji and Taisho periods.

The background to the formulation of the Grand Shrine Forest Management Plan in 1923 was the urgent need to not only plant and grow cypress trees to be used for the Shikinen Sengu ceremonies, but also to restore the forest, which had lost its water-retention capacity due to the loss of trees, to a healthy state and to cultivate the source of the Isuzu River (kan'yo: the process of water seeping in naturally and gradually nurturing clean water).

Human intervention and management creates healthy forests and allows good cypress trees to grow.

The location where this tree-planting ceremony was held is almost directly south of the Inner Shrine, and covers an area of ​​0,2 hectares. In fact, seedlings were planted in the same place in 2009, but after suffering damage from typhoons and being eaten by deer, it was decided to plant the trees again this time.

The natural environment of the shrine, including the shrine forest, is not untouched and left unattended. In particular, the coniferous cypress trees require 20 years of thinning to remove undergrowth, clear away branches, and cut off tangled vines, otherwise they will not grow into large, straight trees suitable for timber use, and the forest will turn into a jungle and become overgrown.

So, does this mean that we should just pursue efficiency and grow only cypress trees? It seems that this is not the case.

By thinning the cypress trees and leaving only the best ones, the sun shines on the ground, allowing a wide variety of plants to sprout. The broadleaf trees also sprout naturally, and eventually the forest becomes a mixed forest, with tall cypress trees in the upper layers and young broadleaf trees with a variety of leaves in the middle and lower layers.

In other words, the proportion of trees in relation to the space increases, and the amount of branches and leaves that return to the soil and become fertilizer increases, making the soil soft and fluffy like a sponge.

In addition, when the trees and flowers bloom and bear fruit, animals and birds gather in search of the fruit, and earthworms and microorganisms decompose their waste, increasing the fertilizer concentration in the soil. In other words, the soil becomes fertile, and the trees grow stronger and better than if only cypress trees were planted.

Forests are natural reservoirs.
How to create sustainable forests through long-term planning

Fertile soil nurtures forests and produces quality water.

Rain that falls in a healthy forest does not simply run off, but instead sinks underground and over many years seeps deep into the earth. Eventually, the water is filtered through the fertile soil and becomes droplets rich in minerals that seep out into the valley. It then becomes a stream and flows downstream as the Isuzu River, which is used to grow rice and vegetables as offerings to the gods, as well as to make sacred salt.

All of this is possible thanks to the forest's inherent ecosystem and diversity.

The shrine forest has endured many challenges over its long history of around 2000 years since Amaterasu Omikami was enshrined there. Now, long-term efforts are underway to make the forest sustainable by striking a balance between protecting and preserving nature and cultivating and utilizing the cypress trees that are used for the Shikinen Sengu ceremonies.

Why cypress in the first place?
Myths recorded in the Nihon Shoki and the Japanese view of nature

But why, out of all the different types of wood, is cypress used for the main shrine building and its subsidiary shrines?

Indeed, cypress is said to have strong properties that make it resistant to rot, have a long-lasting fragrance, and repel insects. In fact, cypress was used in the five-story pagoda of Horyu-ji Temple in Nara, which was built in the 7th century and still retains its dignity as the oldest wooden building in Japan.

However, the reason for using cypress in shrines and temples seems to be more than just the wood's properties.

According to the classical Japanese mythology, the Nihon Shoki, Japanese trees are associated with Susanoo no Mikoto.

In other words, it is written that when Susanoo-no-Mikoto plucked out his beard and scattered it around, it turned into cedar trees, and similarly, his chest hair turned into cypress, his buttocks hair turned into maki, and his eyebrows turned into camphor trees. One could also read this as meaning that the trees were the alter egos of Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

Furthermore, Susanoo-no-Mikoto clearly stated the uses of each tree: for example, cedar and camphor trees were to be used for building ships, cypress for constructing magnificent palaces, and yew for making coffins for burying the dead.

If you think about it, since ancient times in Japan, not only cypress trees but also large trees and rocks have been regarded as sacred trees or rock altars where gods reside.

Naturally, the mountains and forests that contain such sacred trees and rock altars are also considered sacred, and even in the plains, mountain gods are enshrined there, and they have been protected as guardian deities.

Even during the Shikinen Sengu ceremony, when cypress trees are cut down to be used for the sacred timber, festivals such as the Yamaguchi Festival and the Misoma Hajime Festival are held and prayers of thanks are offered to the mountain god.

At the root of this is the ancient Japanese view of nature that gods reside in all things.

In particular, Amaterasu Omikami, the shrine's main deity, is the goddess who presides over Takamagahara, the realm of the gods. In a sense, it was only natural to use a tree that dwells in gods, specifically cypress, which Susanoo no Mikoto designated as "the material for building a magnificent palace," in the sacred grounds where the deity is enshrined and protected.

What's more, the timber used for the imperial sect doesn't just end after one use. After dismantling, it is re-cut, and for example, the ridge pillars of the main hall will be used for the torii gates of Uji Bridge for the next 20 years (the outer gate at the Outer Shrine and the inner gate at the Inner Shrine), and after another 20 years, the same pillars will be used for the torii gates at the remains of the ferry at Shichirihama in Kuwana City (Outer Shrine) and the torii gate at Seki no Oiwake in Kameyama City (Inner Shrine), after which they will be donated to local shrines and other organizations.

The other materials used for the shrine will be re-cut and reassembled after the main shrine is dismantled, and will then fulfill their role as shrine buildings for shrines across the country that are associated with Ise Grand Shrine and for shrines that have been affected by disasters.

I have heard that during the Meiji period, when Japan was moving towards civilization and enlightenment, a proposal was made to use concrete or brick as the building materials for the main hall, but I personally feel that this idea was putting the cart before the horse, given Japan's traditional view of nature and religious beliefs.

The cycle of the forest creates a sustainable, eternal forest.

Let's return to the topic of Arbor Day.

The site for this ceremony was set up on the slope of a mountain. Before planting the trees, the chief celebrant recited a prayer to the mountain god, offering thanks and praying for the safe growth of the saplings.

The cypress seedlings planted this time were germinated and grown from seeds collected from the shrine forest. In 200 years, when these three-year-old seedlings will be about 60 cm in diameter, it is said that the shrine forest will be able to provide more than 90% of the cypress wood needed for the shrine's reconstruction.

It has been almost 100 years since the initiative began in the Jingu Shrine Forest.

Looking around, there are many cypress trees that must have been planted at that time. Many of them are about 100 years old, and some are marked with single or double lines. These are markers to pass on the quality of the trees to future generations.

During the previous Shikinen Sengu in 2013, 23% of the timber used was sourced from the shrine's forests.

Planting trees, watching over the forest as they grow, utilizing them and then planting more - continuing this cycle will lead to the creation of an everlasting "Tokowaka Forest."

Text by Misa Horiuchi

Writer

When I went to Europe to cover classical music, I was asked a lot of questions about Japan.This experience of being unable to answer most of the questions prompted him to begin researching Japanese music, culture, and prayer.This year marks his 16th year. His books include "Adult Nara: A journey to clear your mind" and "Adult Nara: A journey through breathtaking views" (both published by Tankosha), and "The World of Kamuy" (published by Shinchosha).

Photo by Akihiko Horiuchi

Photographers
He currently photographs mainly shrines and Japanese prayers. His photo books include "Ainu Prayers" (Kyuryudo) and "To the Forest of Brahms' Music" (Sekai Bunka Publishing). He is also a photographer who loves Bach, Evans, and sacred mountains.