Ise Shrine located in Ise city, Mie prefecture, Japan, is one of the sacred works of Shinto Shinto. Ise consists of more than 100 temples, large and small, stretching over a large area. However, two of the most important ones are Noi Naiku Temple and Outer Geku Temple.

In addition to sacred, this temple also attracts visitors by a tradition of rebuilding once every 20 years. This tradition has been upheld for the past 1,300 years, as part of the Shinto Shinto faith in death, the revival of nature, and the impermanence of all things. This is also the way of passing on temple construction techniques through generations.

Construction took place on a site next to the old temple. Each construction will rotate between these 2 locations. First, the old temple was dismantled, then the new building was built next to it, ensuring the original one. The most recent construction took place in 2013.

To mark this event, a number of festivals are also held such as Okihiki. Here, people from all over the neighboring provinces will come to pull logs through the streets of Ise city. These logs are taken from the Japanese cypress tree planted in the sacred forest surrounding the temple. About 10,000 cypress trees will be exploited. Many of these trees have a lifespan of up to 200 years.

Each demolition and reconstruction costs an estimated billions of dollars. The budget is derived from taxes, personal donations, including business owners and Japanese Imperial members. The whole temple rebuilding ceremony lasted at least 8 years.

A 20-year tradition of temple reconstruction has its origins in ancient times. At that time, the food warehouses were often dismantled and rebuilt after 20-30 years. This is a type of house with floors built on wooden piles and thatched roof. After a while, the roof and pillars will show signs of decay. That’s when they were dismantled and a new warehouse was built. This periodic rebuilding gradually became a custom kept by the people until now.