The Sacred Meals of Ise Jingu Grand Shrine
Twice each day, special meals are prepared as offerings to the deities enshrined at Ise Jingu. The offerings consist of rice, dried bonito, seaweed, fruit and other farm produce, salt, water, and sake (rice wine). Priests use ancient tools to start the fire that cooks the meals. The ingredients—many of which are sourced from Toba’s waters—are considered fundamental elements of washoku traditional Japanese cuisine.
Every year in mid-October, as part of the Kannamesai Festival, an even more elaborate array of foods is offered to the gods in prayer for the continued health of the nation and the world. A re-creation of this holy feast, which is Ise Jingu’s most important ritual, is on display at the Toba Sea-Folk Museum.