Torii
The gate that marks the entrance to a Shinto shrine.
Also: shrine gate
A torii is a gateway of two upright posts and two crossbeams, standing at the approach to a Shinto shrine and marking the line between the everyday world and the sacred space. Many are painted vermilion, others are left as plain wood or stone. Visitors bow before passing through and keep to the sides, leaving the centre to the deity. The thousands of gates at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, each given by a business or a family, form tunnels up the mountain, and the floating gate of Itsukushima in Hiroshima stands in the sea. The shape is an emblem of Japan.
Region: East Asia