The Ise-Shima National Park occupies a special place in Japan as the site chosen to establish the most sacred shrine in Japanese Shinto.
Today, this temple and the surrounding Shinto shrine area are the focal points of the Ise-Shima National Park
Points of interest
A port city, a destination for writers …
Yukio Mishima’s “The Sound of Waves” is known as a Toba-born masterpiece, but Mishima is not the only writer connected with Toba.
A stone on the ocean, Kamishima.
The location of the action in Yukio Mishima’s novel, The Sound of Waves. The most remote island of Toba, a mountain surrounded by the sea.
Before the establishment of the prefectural system in 1871, the cities of Toba, Shima and parts of present-day Mie Prefecture were part of a province called Shima Province. This province was itself divided into two counties: Ago and Toshi, with Toshi Island being the seat of Toshi County.
From ancient times to the end of the 12th century, the province of Shima, together with the province of Wakasa (present-day Hyogo Prefecture) and the province of Awaji (present-day Fukui Prefecture), constituted a Miketsukuni, a province in charge of providing food for the imperial court.
Wild citrus of Japan: Yamato Tachibana
Mie Prefecture is one of Japan’s leading producers of mandarins, but it is also home to an ancient species of wild citrus, Yamato Tachibana
Toba, a land full of spiritual power
Kobo Daishi Kukai also has a close relationship with the land of Toba. Kukai founded Kongosho-Ji Temple in Ise City as a training hall for Shingon Esoteric Buddhism and built Marukozan Kuzoji Temple in the hinterlands of Maruyama in Toba.
Heirs to ancient fishing traditions
Since ancient times, the women of Toba have been diving into the sea to catch fish, shellfish, and seaweed.