Imperial Family

Prince Hisahito visits Ise Jingu shrine

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prince Hisahito, center, walks after visiting Ise Jingu’s Naiku inner shrine in Ise, Mie Prefecture, on Saturday.

Jiji Press

14:39 JST, October 2, 2022

ISE, Mie (Jiji Press) — Prince Hisahito, the son of Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko, visited Ise Jingu, a major Shinto shrine complex in Mie Prefecture, on Saturday.

This was the 16-year-old prince’s second visit to the shrine in the city of Ise and the first without any member of his family. In March 2013, Prince Hisahito visited Ise Jingu with his parents and Princess Kako, the second daughter of the couple.

During the private visit to Ise Jingu on Saturday, Prince Hisahito, wearing a suit, worshipped at the Geku outer shrine shortly after 2 p.m. and then at the Naiku inner shrine.

Prince Hisahito, a first-grader at the University of Tsukuba’s Senior High School at Otsuka in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, then visited the Jingu Museum in Ise and viewed a special exhibition there about Ise Jingu and the Shosoin temple in Nara City. He asked museum staff about a Japanese harp on display, among other things.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Ise Jingu side invited Prince Hisahito to visit and see the special exhibition as he is now a high school student.