Fun of Good Old Japanese - 江戸・明治に学ぶ　楽しむ生き方

Very good ★★★ ,very informative The transition of travel of Japanese people is described using historical materials and scripts of Kyougen/ 狂言 which is a traditional Japanese performance. We can understand travels in the old time very easily by this book. The fun of the travel is written properly in the preface,  “The sightseeing travel became popular in the Edo period .  The traveling was once-in-a-life-time event for people at that time , so it gave them a huge impact. Everything was a new experience for people because travel information was very limited. The travel was full of dazzling freshness and excitement, so people never forgot it.” We understand that traveling provided the most excellent fun. Nevertheless it was an inconvenient era because there were no cars and trains.  The reason of the travel was for livelihood at first however the succeeding travel appeared whose purposes were such as pilgrimage or entertainment. Those travels are the main theme of this book.

  The Ise shrine is in Mie Prefecture which is Central Japan.  Ise Shrine is dedicated to the ancestor of the royal family (Amaterasu-Omikami/deity), however people came to consider Ise Shrine as a guardian deity for all Japanese.  They thought that the deity had a remarkably miraculous power, and became to worship the deity of the Ise Shrine.  The groups of worshipers, which were called  “Ise Kou ”  were organized across Japan. The members of Ise Kou deposited money in order to visit Ise Shrine. In the Edo period, visiting Ise Shrine was one of the goals of life.  The picture below shows the Ise Shrine Naikuu. After crossing the bridge, I went into the ground of Ise Shrine, which is so sacred. Many people visit Ise Shrine even now, especially on New Year’s Day. The destination of my elementary school trip was Ise Shrine. Bridge in the approach to the shrine 、宇治橋 Naiku shrine 、内宮 English web site of Ise Shrine (Many beautiful photos and videos are uploaded) English http:/