Songs of Ise and Kumano

Saiku Historical Museum

This event has ended.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Saiku Historical Museum, and the 10th anniversary of the registration of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes on the World Heritage list. Among the routes, the Ise route in Mie Prefecture was once a road that connected two important sacred places: Kumano and Ise.
In the Heian period, Imperial princesses called “Saio” visited Ise from the capital, and in Kumano, Kumano Goko (the Emperor’s Pilgrimage to Kumano) was held frequently. Through such comings and goings of people and information, the capital and the sacred places frequently stimulated each other. This was clearly indicated in tanka poetry composed in Ise and Kumano. Using tanka poems as a tool, this exhibition intends to reflect on the processes of people in the capital, deepening the information about Ise and Kumano, and of people in other areas absorbing the culture of the capital.