# Column

# Skill Inheritance and Securing Technicians for Shikinen Sengu (installation of a new deity on a specified year)

In 2013, at one of Japan's foremost shrines, the Ise Jingu (Ise Shrine) in Mie, the Shikinen Sengu—a ceremony that is held once every 20 years—was conducted, and many worshipers attended. The word 'Shikinen' means the prescribed year, and 'Sengu' means building a new shrine and installing a deity within it.

The Ise Shrine's Shikinen Sengu started in the 690 $ ^{th} $ year of the Asuka period, and has a history of almost 1,300 years, though it was suspended during the Sengoku period (the age of provincial wars). All the shrine pavilions, apparel, and treasures in the Shoden (main building) of Naikū (Inner Shrine) and Gekū (Outer Shrine) of the Shogū (main shrine compound) and Betsugū (associated shrine compounds), are all renewed and reconstructed every 20 years, up this present time. 2013 was the 62 $ ^{nd} $ Shikinen Sengu year. The shrine pavilions are made in a distinctive 'Yuiitsu-shinmei-zukuri' architectural style—Japan's oldest architecture style with Horitate pillars made of untreated Japanese cypress wood and rooftops made with Kaya (type of straw)—and can be seen in its unaltered formed even now (Figure 2-3-56).

At this Shinto Shrine, both Naikū and Gekū has land of the same size to the east and west, and every 20 years each Shaden (shrine building) is alternately reconstructed in the same shape and size. The old material resulting from the reconstruction is reused as much as possible. For example, with the thickest pillars (Munamoch-bashira) in the main buildings of Naikū and Gekū, once they have been replaced, the old pillars are used for 20 years as the Torii (Shinto gateway) on the inner and outer ends of the Uji Bridge, which is at the outer entrance of the shrine compound. They are then used for another 20 years as the Torii of ‘Seki-no-Oiwake’ in Kameyama City, and ‘Pass of Nanasato’ in Kuwana City, both places in Mie prefecture. Other old materials are also reused for repairing and replacing work on Sessa (ancillary shrines) and Massa (subordinate shrines) within Naikū and Gekū, and also given for free to other shrines in Japan.

Previously, the cost for Sengu was funded by the court in ancient times, by the Kamakura shogunate in the Kamakura period, by the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo period, and by the government until after the

Source) Jingu (Shrine) Official

Meiji era before World War II. However, after WWII the Ise Shrine became a private religious corporation and separated itself from the government. Since then Sengu is no longer sponsored by the government, and the cost is funded by the Ise Shrine itself. The cost for this Sengu was published as approximately JPY55 billion.

There are many theories as to why Sengu was prescribed to happen every 20 years, but one of those theories is the 'Technology Inheritance Theory.' The theory hypothesizes that time period of 20 years allowed for people in those days to be involved in Sengu at least twice within the average lifespan, which meant that it was a logical time frame for teaching and passing down the necessary skills to the next generation experiencing Sengu for the first time. So how have the construction techniques been passed down for Ise Shrine?

We will look at the overview of the employment situation and the work content of skilled workers from the of 61 $ ^{st} $ Shikinen Sengu in 1993, and until 2016 when the 62 $ ^{nd} $ Shikinen Sengu ends (Figure 2-3-57).

For Shikinen Sengu, once the Sengu of the Shogū is completed, there is still the Sengu to be done for the Betsugū. Therefore, for a span of two years, approximately 160 skilled workers would continue to be employed during that period. Once the Sengu of Betsugū has been completed, about 30 young or gifted skilled workers are kept on as permanent staff for the Shrine, and the other skilled workers are disbanded. The 30 skilled workers kept on as permanent staff would then spend the next 12 years working on the repair and replacement work for Sessha and Massha.