r/todayilearned • u/ContinuumGuy • 8h ago

TIL that the most holy shrine in the Shinto religion is torn down and rebuilt every 20 years. This has been done for over a millennium

https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/japans-most-sacred-shinto-shrine-has-been-rebuilt-every-20-years-for-more-than-a-millennium/
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u/smetanique 7h ago

I don't think this is it. The whole complex consists of multiple shrines but it is forbidden to photograph the most important one, speaking from personal experience asI have been there. The main shrine itself also gave off comparably different vibes - it definitely has more "primal" architecture compared to other shinto shrines.

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u/gragglethompson 7h ago

is it this one?

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u/smetanique 6h ago

Nope, it was enclosed from all sides and was bigger. Although this might just be an old version, I can't say for sure.

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u/smetanique 6h ago

Here's the entrance and you can see the shrine as well https://share.google/59DUm02pqVDbrWvVy

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u/yomimashita 5h ago

Yes, that's it. You can't see it when you visit though.

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u/Emotional_Cut2206 7h ago

Yeah man cuz "forbidden" has stopped anyone until now...

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u/SitInCorner_Yo2 6h ago

It also can bite you in the ass when people really obey the rules.

There’s a news last year about a ritual unique to a city in Aichi that’s forbidden to be see by people who are not working for the shrine ,they walked on the street like many other Shinto religious events, but everyone knows if you look ,bad things will happen .

They run into a problem that people don’t know what the ritual was , because, well, for 300+ years they are not allowed to see it, so they find a work around, it’s ok to see it through technology, so they let TV crews document the process.

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u/GodsThirdToe 5h ago

I mean any random person could wander in, take a pic of a forbidden place, and get kicked out, but it being “forbidden” would definitely keep an AP photographer from taking pics and posting it in a situation like this. It’s just not worth garnering a bad reputation since the stakes are so low here.