The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Isis, Isaic religion S 219

Ise Site of one of the most important S HINTO shrines. Ise is located in southern Honshu, Japan’s largest island. It is home to several shrines. The inner shrine is sacred to A MATERASU , the KAMI of the sun and the ancestress of the Japanese emper ors. The most important building contains one of the symbols of the Japanese imperial family: the sacred mirror. The shrine buildings are constructed in a very old style. They sit on stilts. They also have massive wooden pillars at each end and thatched straw roofs. On each end, the crossbeams of the roof form something of a giant X. The buildings are reconstructed every 20 years, perhaps because they are made of natural wood. According to a RITUAL centuries old, offerings of food—including rice, vegetables, and fruit grown on the shrine grounds—are made to the kami twice a day. New clothing is presented twice a year, in spring and autumn. Several million pilgrims visit Ise each year. The shrine also hosts a large number of festivals. Of these the most important is the Shi kinensengu, the reconstruction every 20 years. The buildings of Ise shrine were reconstructed for the 61st time in 1993. The shrine itself cele brated its bimillennium (2,000th anniversary) in 1996. Isis, Isaic religion A GODDESS of ancient Egypt and her worship in the Greco-Roman world. In Egypt, Isis was the daughter of Geb and Nut (Earth and Sky), wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus. Osiris was a god of fertility who was also identi fied with the deceased pharaoh. After his funer ary rites, the divine ruler came back to life in the Underworld as Osiris, reigning there as king of the dead. A myth tells us that when Osiris was slain by his brother, Seth, Isis gathered together the parts of his dismembered body and, with the help of Thoth, the god of funeral rites, was able to revive him. Isis was seen as the ideal wife and support for her husband, as model for the queen of Egypt, and as queen of the dead. In popular worship, she was invoked as protector of woman, especially in childbirth; as giver of life and rebirth, as for Osiris;

The goddess Isis nursing the child Horus. This Hellenistic version of the Egyptian goddess Isis wears a fringed cape around her shoulders and vine branches in her hair. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, N.Y.)

and as a goddess of fertility, controller of the Nile’s life-giving floods. Her symbols included the cow, the serpent, and the sistrum, a jangling musical instrument used in her worship. In Greco-Roman times, especially in the days of the Roman Empire, the WORSHIP of Isis became popular throughout the Mediterranean world. Isaic temples and RITUALS were noted for the beauty and dramatic quality of their music, dances, processions, and festivals. The cult was