Audio walking guides in Ise

10 self-guided walks · 332 minutes of narration · Ise, Japan

Ise, Japan

Photo: Tawashi2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0

These are self-guided audio walks around Ise. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 10 walks covering Ise Jingū, The Road to Ise, The Drowned Coast, Matsusaka, Iga, The Iseji, Kuwana and the Three Rivers, Yokkaichi and more, 332 minutes of narration in total.

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Every walk in Ise

Ise Jingū: The Shrine That Is Torn Down Every Twenty Years

6 stops · about 29 minutes · starts at The first torii at the Outer Shrine

Welcome to Ise. You are at the beginning of the most sacred site in Shinto, and I want to start with the two things that make it unlike…

The Diving Women and the Invented Pearl

6 stops · about 28 minutes · starts at The waterfront at Toba, looking out over the bay

Look at the shape of this coastline, because everything in this guide comes out of it. It is deeply indented — inlets running back into the land, headlands…

The Road to Ise: When Five Million People Walked Out of Their Jobs

6 stops · about 38 minutes · starts at Futami Okitama shrine, on the coast east of Ise

Salt on the wind, a low grey sea, and two rocks standing in the shallows with a thick straw rope slung between them. This is where the pilgrimage…

The Drowned Coast: Ago Bay and the Shrine's Own Farms

6 stops · about 39 minutes · starts at Yokoyama viewpoint, above Ago Bay

From up here the bay makes a shape that is difficult to describe and impossible to forget. It is not a bay in the ordinary sense — a…

Matsusaka: Fixed Prices, Forty Years of Footnotes, and the Best Beef in Japan

6 stops · about 39 minutes · starts at Matsusaka Castle ruins, above the town

There is no keep here, no gate, no hall and no reconstruction. What there is, is stone. Massive terraced walls, several levels of them, wrapping around a low…

Iga: The Actual Ninja, and the Poet Who Left

6 stops · about 38 minutes · starts at Iga Ueno Castle, above the town

Our Togakushi guide, in the Nagano set, makes a promise. It says that most of the popular ninja story is a modern invention, and that the two regions…

The Iseji: The Pilgrim Road From Ise to Kumano

6 stops · about 31 minutes · starts at The Magose pass, on the Iseji route near Owase

There are two great pilgrimage routes in the world with World Heritage status. One is the road to Santiago in northern Spain. The other is this. The Japanese…

Kuwana and the Three Rivers: Villages Inside Rings, and the River Job That Broke the Men Sent to Do It

6 stops · about 32 minutes · starts at The Shichiri crossing landing, Kuwana

There is a torii standing here at the edge of the water, and it is not marking a shrine. There is no shrine behind it. It is just…

Yokkaichi: The City That Could Not Breathe, and the Factories It Now Sells Tickets to Look At

6 stops · about 30 minutes · starts at Yokkaichi Station

Wait until it is properly dark, and then look across the water. Thousands of white lights, in vertical lines and horizontal runs, stacked in three dimensions across a…

Suzuka: The Racetrack a Motorcycle Company Built to Test Its Own Machines

6 stops · about 28 minutes · starts at Suzuka Circuit, main gate

Find the bridge. There is a point where the track passes over itself, one section of tarmac running on a viaduct above another. See if you can spot…

Questions about walking Ise

What is the best self-guided walking tour in Ise?

It depends how long you have. Ise Jingū: The Shrine That Is Torn Down Every Twenty Years (29 minutes, 6 stops) starts at The first torii at the Outer Shrine and is the one most people begin with. The Diving Women and the Invented Pearl covers a different part of the city in about 28 minutes. All 10 walks in Ise are listed on this page with their length and starting point.

Do I need to book a walking tour in Ise?

No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.

How much do the Ise audio guides cost?

Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.

Are these tours in English?

Yes, all 10 Ise walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.

Can I do these walks alone?

Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.