UJI-YAMADA STATION (ISE, MIE PREFECTURE)

Natural gateway to Ise gives quiet place for thought

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Sei Kohama

By Keiko Nakamura

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

The concourse of Kintetsu Corp.'s Uji-Yamada Station in Ise, Mie Prefecture, is a comfortable place to wait for a train. Gentle sunlight angles through octagonal windows and the high ceiling gives a sense of spaciousness. Time passes slowly at this station, where you could sit happily with a favorite book.

But the atmosphere sometimes drastically changes. When VIPs — including those of the Imperial family — visit the Ise Grand Shrines, the station is full of ceremonies to welcome them and tension fills the air.

From its inception in 1931 as a terminal for Sangu Electric Express Railway Co. (now Kintetsu), the station was a gate to the Ise Grand Shrines, which consist of Inner and Outer Shrines.

Although Iseshi Station — also in the city — is only about 10 minutes' walk away, Uji-Yamada Station has become the natural entrance to the shrine and a venue for events and celebrations.

When Mizuki Noguchi — women's marathon gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics — returned to her hometown in triumph, a celebratory ceremony was held at the station.

Takumi Sakata, 56, the second-generation owner of Daiki, a Japanese-style restaurant in front of Uji-Yamada Station that opened immediately after the end of World War II, said: "About 5,000 people gathered for the ceremony. I haven't seen that many people overflowing from the station for a long time."

For many years, it was usual for pilgrims visiting the shrines to get off trains at JR and Kintetsu Iseshi stations, worship at the Outer Shrine, tour the Inner Shrine by bus and depart from Uji-Yamada Station.

But recently, the number of people visiting only the Inner Shrine has increased. Following their visit, many walk along an 800-meter-long street in front of the Inner Shrine known as Oharaimachi (literally meaning "purification town"). A popular side street in the area is Okage Yokocho ("Grace Lane").

On Okage Yokocho, visitors can find the Okage Theater, a theme park, where they can experience a simulation of Edo period (1603-1868) worship at the Ise Grand Shrines. There also are shops featuring local products and specialties, including udon, sushi, Japanese and Western sweets and accessories made from famed Ise pearls.

The streets are lined with refined and elegant buildings that one might mistakenly believe were built in bygone days. But in fact, they were created 11 years ago at the initiative of Akafuku, a long-established store, built in the style of Ise during the mid-19th century.

Oharaimachi has a shop selling traditional good luck figures of a beckoning cat, one where visitors can smoke using a traditional Japanese pipe, a studio where they can make kamaboko — white fish made into seasoned paste — and a salon where they can play go. On weekends, the streets are full of visitors queueing to enter the store.

In 2003, 3.2 million people visited Oharai-machi. The town has become a special feature of Inner Shrine tours, once described as a place worth visiting for only 45 minutes.