Takiharanomiya

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

TakiharanomiyaIse Jingu betsuguTaikicedar approachAmaterasu

Mie · Taiki

34.3676°N, 136.4306°E

Not every sacred site in Mie draws a crowd. Takiharanomiya is one of the ones that doesn't need to.

Takiharanomiya is a betsugu of the Inner Shrine at Ise, forty minutes down the valley from it, and it is called a toonomiya — a distant shrine. It enshrines a spirit of Amaterasu, and tradition holds that Yamatohime stopped here while searching for the place to establish Ise itself.

What makes it worth the drive is that it looks like Ise without the crowds. The same cypress architecture, the same rebuilt-every-twenty-years discipline, the same washing place at a clear stream instead of a stone basin — but on a cedar-lined approach with almost nobody on it. There are two main halls side by side, which is unusual, and three subordinate shrines. It is free, opens at five in the morning, and is twenty minutes' walk from Takihara Station.

Plan your visit

Time to allow

60 minutes

Hours

5:00 AM – 7:00 PM May–August | 5:00 AM – 6:00 PM January–April and September | 5:00 AM – 5:00 PM October–December

Closed: Open year-round

Admission

Free

Best season

Year-round | Early morning

Getting there

Directions

Takihara 872, Taiki, Watarai District. About a short walk from JR Takihara Station on the Kisei Line, or by car from Omiya-Odai IC on the Kisei Expressway; from the Inner Shrine at Ise. Free to visit, with parking. The precinct holds two main halls, Takiharanomiya and Takihara-naranomiya, and three subordinate shrines.

Beyond the guidebook

**Wash at the stream.** As at the Inner Shrine, purification here is done at running water rather than a basin, on a clear mountain stream below the approach. **Two main halls.** Takiharanomiya and Takihara-naranomiya, side by side. Very few shrines are arranged this way and it is the first thing to notice. **Five in the morning.** It opens at dawn all year, and the cedar approach at that hour with nobody on it is why people make the drive. **Forty minutes from Ise.** Far enough that the tour buses do not come. It is the same architecture and the same institution. **Twenty minutes from the station.** JR Takihara on the Kisei Line, which makes it reachable without a car if the timetable cooperates.

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