Imagine if Roman Catholics tore down St. Peter’s every 20 years and rebuilt it to the original specifications.

It’s not so hard to imagine in Japan, because that’s what happens to the Grand Shrine at Ise, the most important shrine in Shinto. The shrine deity is Amaterasu Omikami, the goddess of legend who founded the Japanese imperial line thousands of years ago. Among the shrine relics is the mirror said to have been used to lure her out of her cave and bring light to the heavens.

The first rebuilding project was carried out in 690, and, with a handful of exceptions, has been done in 20-year cycles since then. Every part of the shrine compound is perfectly duplicated, so the site is, in effect, a living time capsule from the first millenium.

This article is an excellent overview of the rebuilding process in particular and Shinto in general, which still lies at the core of the Japanese spirit. (Scroll down past a brief reader survey.) The only false note is a single paragraph with the claim that Shinto has a dark side because state Shinto became one of the elements of Japanese militarism in the last century. (Shinto has no dogma, so any dark side came from human manipulation, and the factors behind this manipulation require book-length treatment. Shinto also has a history of about 2,000 years, while the state Shinto episode lasted about 80 years.)

More information on the Ise Shrine and Shinto shrines in general can be found and at the English site of the Shinto Shrine Association. Here is their article on Ise, with photos.