Izumo Taisha (27 April, 2005) I had several hours to the flight back to Tokyo-- I visited this one of the oldest Shinto Shrines in Japan, 15km away from Izumo Airport.  Some legends say this region once had a most advanced culture in Japan about two thousands years ago, but a group of people from central Japan beat lords in Izumo.  The Izumo Taisha is enshrining the beaten lords to calm down their resentment-- the most powerful lord (Okuni-Nushi) is ranked highest among all Gods in Japan. But legends are not so tragic.  Derived from a fact that Okuni-Nushi finally gave up his land to accelerate the unity of Japan, Okuni-Nushi is now regarded as a God for happy marriage. One more interesting story.  Traditionally, Japanese people have called October "Kan-na-zuki," which means the month without Gods.  But, in Izumo, October is "Kami-ari-zuki," the month with Gods.  Why?  All the 808 million Gods in Japan participate in "The Annual Gods Conference" at the Izumo Taisha in October to discuss about things in a year!

Entire view of central buildings.  Very wide sky-- no electric cables.  Mountains behind is somehow unapproachable.

First worship for the kid!  Mother prays for healthy growth of the kid.  Not in the foto, but a grandfather (mother's dad, I guess) was also praying.

Mossy roof of a building.  This building style is peculiar to the Izumo Taisha.

People draw scared lots and tie them wishing happiness.

Azalea was beautiful here as well.

Unearthing investigation proved that the main building of the Izumo Taisha was the biggest wooden building in the world untill 1,100 years ago.  In fact, some say, "Izumo No.1, Nara No.2 and Kyoto No.3."   Nara stands for the Todai-ji Temple, of which main building is the biggest wooden building in the world now.  There was a bigger building before.  Yes, now we know how this shrine has been respected by Japanese.

Izumo Taisha