4 Best Sights in Nagoya, Ise-Shima, and the Kii Peninsula, Japan

These shrines are rebuilt every 20 years, in accordance with Shinto tradition. To begin a new generational cycle, exact replicas of the previous halls are erected with new wood, using the same centuries-old methods, on adjacent sites. The old buildings are then dismantled. The main halls you see now—the 62nd set—were completed in 2013 at an estimated cost of more than ¥5.5 billion. For the Japanese, importance is found in the form of the buildings; the vintage of the materials is of little concern. You cannot enter any of the buildings, but the tantalizing glimpses of the main halls that you catch while walking the grounds add to the mystique of the site. Both Grand Shrines exhibit a natural harmony that the more-contrived buildings in later Japanese architecture do not.

Deep in a park of ancient Japanese cedars, Geku, dating from AD 477, is dedicated to Toyouke Omikami, goddess of agriculture. Its buildings are simple, predating the 6th-century Chinese and Korean influence. It's made from unpainted hinoki (cypress), with a closely cropped thatched roof. You can see very little of the exterior of Geku—only its roof and glimpses of its walls—and none of the interior. Four fences surround the shrine, and only the Imperial Family and their envoys may enter. Geku is a five-minute walk southwest of Ise-Shi Station or a 10-minute walk west of Uji-Yamada Station.

The even more venerated Naiku is 6 km (4 miles) southeast of Geku. Naiku is said to be where the Yata-no-Kagami (Sacred Mirror) is kept, one of the three sacred treasures of the imperial regalia. The shrine, reputed to date from 4 BC, also houses the spirit of the sun goddess Amaterasu, who Japanese mythology says was born of the left eye of Izanagi, one of the first two gods to inhabit the earth. According to legend, Amaterasu was the great-great-grandmother of the first mortal emperor of Japan, Jimmu. Thus, she is revered as the country's ancestral goddess-mother and guardian deity. The Inner Shrine's architecture is simple. If you did not know its origin, you might call it classically modern. The use of unpainted cypress causes Naiku to blend into the ancient forest encircling it. To get to Naiku, take Bus 51 or 55 from Uji-Yamada Station or in front of Geku to the Naiku-mae bus stop, which is right in front of the shrine. The ride takes about 20 minutes and costs ¥440.

Although the buildings here are modern re-creations, this great shrine is said to have been located here since at least the 12th century, and is steeped in much Shinto mythology. A sacred stone found here was said to have once carried three Shinto deities to Earth.

Of the three Kumano Sanzan grand shrines, Hongu-taisha is the most revered, being the head shrine of some 3,000 Kumano shrines nationwide. It's also the one hidden deepest in the Kii Peninsula's interior. With its understated wooden structures and thatched roofs, it blends in perfectly with the giant cedars that surround it. What would have once been an arduous trek through mountain and forest is now a straightforward trip on public transport (though people still walk the pilgrimage trails). To get there from Shingu, take a bus 80 minutes to the Hongu-taisha-mae bus stop. If you are staying over in Shingu, this is easily done as a day-trip.

The shrine overlooks Nachi-no-taki 那智の滝, the highest waterfall in Japan, which drops 430 feet into a rocky river. At the bus stop near the falls, a large torii (gate) marks the start of a short path that leads to a paved clearing near the foot of the falls. A 15-minute climb up the mossy stone path opposite the souvenir shops is the temple and its small museum. You can ride an elevator to the top of the bright-red pagoda for an on-high view of the waterfall. Next to the shrine is the 1587 Buddhist temple Seiganto-ji 青岸渡寺, starting point for a 33-temple Kannon pilgrimage through western Honshu. Many visitors walk here via the cobbled Daimonzaka slope 大門坂, found one bus stop before Nachi Falls, for a brief taste of the ancient Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trails.