Please post your honest review of Authentic Ise Walking Tour SHŌ in English.
To start the message with your nickname/social media handle and a colon, like ‘Amy: …’, is a good way to protect your privacy.
Plus please let me edit your comments on an as-needed basis.
Thank you for your warm welcoming
I had a nice tour with you and got to know how amazing Ise Shrine is
I highly recommend this tour
The tour was satisfactory, full of new experiences and learning. Not only can you know about the background of Ise-Jingu, but learn about Shintoism which facilitates understanding of Japan as a country (e.g. the connection between government and religion in the Meiji era). It provides a set of profound experience ranging from being awestruck by the sacredness of the precincts to eating local foods. Moreover, the guide was so kind to answer my questions about the shrine and religion even though I was asking them once in every thirty seconds; really appreciate the generosity 🙂
Nevertheless, the tour could be improved in some respects. To begin with, there could have been a brief explanation of important points before the tour; as some people (including me) might miss details about the tour when checking the website, crucial points could be reminded (e.g. religious consideration). In addition, having some conversations over what could be seen besides Ise-Jingu could be nice. After visiting the outer shrine, we took a bus to the inner shrine; since there were some interesting things along the way, an explanation of those would be neat.
Overall, the tour offers an experience to feel and think over Ise-Jingu.
This walking tour would potentially be even better in the future. Definitely happy to have joined this tour, and keep up the good work 😉
I booked this tour to better understand the Shinto religion and the significance of Ise Jingu. Mr Sho was extremely helpful, he provided an overview of the Shinto religion before we started and explained each aspect of the temple and religious practice as we walked around the precincts. His insights were invaluable – to understand temple etiquette at each point he explained the purpose of cleansing, bowing and walking. With this explanation I no longer felt like an outsider looking in, but could understand the how and why of each step taken to approach the shrine.
It’s probably helpful to point out that the tour is structured into three 2 hour segments, 2 hours walking around the outer shrine, then after a short bus trip to the inner shrine you have a 2 hour lunch break to look at the shops and have some food. Mr Sho kindly provides a guide of recommended eateries for this part of your day. The final 2 hours are spent walking around the inner shrine.
I had so many questions for Mr Sho & he really helped me gain a better understanding of the Shinto religion and its relationship to Buddhism. He also clearly explains Japanese cosmology and relationship of the shrine to the Imperial Family, which provided another layer of understanding Japanese culture and history. I would highly recommend this tour, it is excellent value and Mr Sho is an unfailingly polite and knowledgeable guide!