HINOKI SPIRITUAL

Hinoki and Kami

Japan’s native spirituality, kami — the presence of divinity in nature — resides in trees, stones, water... and in what lies beyond the visible.

At Ise Jingu, Japan’s most sacred Shinto shrine, the sanctuary of Amaterasu — the sun deity and mythic ancestor of the imperial line — is built entirely of hinoki.

  • Used in shrines, gates, and ritual implements for centuries 
  • Chosen not for ornament, but for purity
  • Invites presence without assertion

Of all trees, hinoki carries this presence with purity and restraint. 

HinokiHinoki-Ise jingu Hinoki

                           |  Hinoki offers its spirit through what it holds back.  |

Rebuilding the Sacred: Ise’s 20-Year Cycle

Every twenty years, Ise Jingu is taken down and built anew—an unbroken tradition known as Shikinen Sengū, practiced for over thirteen hundred years.

This is not restoration, but renewal. A ritual of continuity through impermanence. The shrine is rebuilt in exact form, using hinoki harvested from the same sacred forests.

  • A new sanctuary is raised beside the old
  • Craft and knowledge are passed hand to hand, preserving centuries of technique
  • Forests are tended with the next century in mind

The dismantled hinoki is never wasted. Each beam and join is passed to smaller shrines across Japan—extending the spirit of Ise outward, from sacred center to regional soil.

Hinoki allows for this rhythm. It gives fully, then continues—enduring in form, scent, and presence, even as it moves on.

Ise jingu Naiku building with hinoki

  |  The dismantled Hinoki is never wasted. Each beam and join is passed to smaller shrines across Japan--- extending the spirit of Ise outward, from sacred center to regional soil.  |

 

    HinokiHinoki-Ise Gingu blog-HinokiSpirit