Takiharanomiya

Takiharanomiya is a betsugu of the Inner Shrine at Ise, forty minutes down the valley from it, and it is called a toonomiya — a distant shrine. It enshrines a spirit of Amaterasu, and tradition holds that Yamatohime stopped here while searching for the place to establish Ise itself.

What makes it worth the drive is that it looks like Ise without the crowds. The same cypress architecture, the same rebuilt-every-twenty-years discipline, the same washing place at a clear stream instead of a stone basin — but on a cedar-lined approach with almost nobody on it. There are two main halls side by side, which is unusual, and three subordinate shrines. It is free, opens at five in the morning, and is twenty minutes' walk from Takihara Station.