Ise Kaido and Ise Honkaido: the Scared Pirglimage to Ise

The Ise Honkaido is a historic route from Osaka to Ise Jingu Shrine. Prince Yamato allegedly walked this road in search of the proper place to enshrine the goddess, Amaterasu, the main deity in Ise Jingu Shrine.

From Osaka to Haibara in Nara, the Ise honkaido mainly goes through the open, flat fields and has plenty of historic things to see.  However, after Haibara limited public transportation is extremely limited as the trail goes deep in the mountains along National Route 369. The trail is very good for hiking, though.

The Ise Kaido forks off from the Tokaido at Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture and leads to the Geku of Ise Jingu Shrine through Suzuka, Tsu, and Matsusaka along the Kintetsu railway. This route was used mainly by the people from East Japan to go to Ise Jingu Shrine.

The Ise Kaido goes through many small cities, so it doesn’t always feel like you are hiking an ancient road. However, the original small road still exists in the many parts of the trail. There are not only many historic things along the way, such as shrines and temples but also, a few restaurants where pilgrims dined.

The Hase Kaido, commonly called Aogoe Ise Kaido, is the road from Hase-dera Temple in Nara to Matsusaka in Mie Prefecture via Nabari and the Aoyama Pass along the Kintetsu Osaka Line. Because the trail goes through a less mountainous area than Ise Honkaido, it is often used by people in West Japan to Ise Jingu Shrine. After Matsusaka, it connects to the Ise Kaido.

It is also quite a historic road, used by Emperor Temmu during the Jinshin War and shrine maidens called Saio, who were specifically devoted to serving to Ise Jingu Shrine.

The Furuichi Kaido is a short historic road that connects Geku and Naiku of Ise Jingu Shrine. While it entirely goes through the neighborhood of Furuichi, which used to be a huge red district of pilgrimages, now there are few historic things left to indicate so. I think walling this road can be a great way to enjoy the traditional way of Ise pilgrimage.

The Ise Betsu Kaido forks from Tokaido in Seki in Mie prefecture and then merges with Ise kaido at Tsu City. This road was mainly used by pilgrimages from Kyoto as a shortcut to Ise.

This also goes thorough the city area, but the small, narrow road and old post towns along the way still does exist as it what it used to be.

The Takenouchi Kaido and Yokooji, date to the Asuka Period (7th century) and are the oldest national roads in Japan. These roads were once primary by government officials and foreign personnel commuting between Sakai in Osaka and Sakurai in Nara. However, later in the Edo Period, it was commonly used as a road to go to Ise. For this reason, this road has many interesting things such as Kofun, ancient burial mounds for Japan’s kings (Yes! Japan once had kings.)

In Sakurai, it merges with Ise Honkaido.