Nagase Shinmei Shrine

Nagase Shinmei Shrine sits on a mountainside within a sacred grove of trees that locals believe predate the shrine itself. Giant horse-chestnut trees, cedars, maples, ginkgos, and camellias form a natural enclosure that separates the grounds from the world outside. Like other Shinmei shrines across Japan, it is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu and is a subsidiary of Ise Grand Shrine. It took its current form in the late Edo period, a time when pilgrimages to Ise were unusually popular among people searching for meaning or relief from the disruptions of a changing era.