A Lesson from Japan’s Most Sacred Ise Shrine: Think Long Term, No Matter Your Age

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Japan’s most important and sacred shrine is Ise Jingu, located in Mie Prefecture, not far from Nagoya.

Ise Jingu has a history of about 2,000 years and holds a special place among Japanese shrines. In fact, Ise Jingu is not just one shrine—it consists of 125 shrines.

I visited the shrine in August 2026.

It is an old shrine, but at the same time, it is always new.

What do I mean by that?

Every 20 years, the main shrine buildings are rebuilt. Next to each existing shrine is an empty space reserved for the new one. After 20 years, a new shrine is built on this neighboring site, and the old one is dismantled.

This tradition is called Shikinen Sengu. The next one comes in 2033.

A designated area in a serene forest setting, marked by a tall sign with inscriptions, serves as a reserved space for a future shrine.

The new shrine is built in essentially the same form as the existing one. Once the new shrine is completed, the old one is dismantled.

Why do they do this?

One reason is to keep the shrines fresh and pure, providing the gods with a newly built place. This practice is deeply rooted in Shinto beliefs.

Another important reason is to pass traditional construction techniques on to the next generation.

Through this repeated cycle of construction and reconstruction, carpenters can pass their skills and knowledge from one generation to another, allowing these traditional techniques to survive far into the future.

Ise Jingu is built using traditional Japanese joinery techniques, with its main wooden structures assembled without relying on nails.

What surprised me the most

Rebuilding Ise Jingu requires a huge amount of timber—around 10,000 trees every 20 years.

The main building material is Japanese cypress, known as hinoki(檜).

Ise Jingu has its own forests, where hinoki trees are grown with the long-term goal of supplying the timber needed for future rebuilding. In 1923, a forest management plan looking approximately 200 years into the future was established.

Planning for the next 200 years

This was the part that impressed me most.

When we think about our own lives, none of us will live for 200 years. But we can still think far into the future, no matter our age.

If I want to reach the last day of my life feeling happy and satisfied with how I lived, what should I be doing now?

I think this is a question for all of us.

We don’t know what the future holds, so it is impossible to plan everything precisely.

But what we can do is envision our future selves—who we want to be and how we want to live—and start taking action today.

What I tell my parents every time I call them

To envision the future, we need a sense of purpose.

For Ise Jingu, the purpose is clear: to ensure that the shrine and its traditions will still exist 200 years from now, just as they do today.

Every time I call my parents, I encourage them to think about their purpose for being here and living in this world.

It doesn’t matter how old they are, or whether they know the answer.

Sometimes the answer doesn’t come quickly. Perhaps there is no single answer.

But I believe the act of asking the question itself is important.

When I think about the purpose of my own life, I feel more motivated to use my time meaningfully. I feel as though something inside me becomes activated.