The "Grand Shrine of Ise" is located about fifty miles east of the Yamato region and consists of two separate shrine complexes. The "Inner Shrine" is dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu, the mythical ancestor of the Japanese imperial line, while the "Outer Shrine" houses a god of the harvest, Toyouke. The key feature of Ise is the regular rebuilding of both shrines at intervals of about twenty years. The most recent rebuilding, in 1993, was the sixtieth-first time since the practice began in the 690's. (The images in this presentation, however, are all from the 60^th rebuilding, in 1973.) The date of the founding of the shrines is unknown. At the earliest, the Inner Shrine was founded in the fourth century and the Outer Shrine perhaps a century later. But it was not.until the late seventh century, when the practice of rebuilding was begun, that Ise took its present shape.