Chapter I
What it means
The torii is a threshold. It has no doors and closes nothing, but it marks a boundary: beyond it lies the sacred precinct of a kami The gods or sacred powers of Shinto, present in nature, ancestors and great people. Glossary, a divine presence. Walking through it, the visitor leaves ordinary life behind and should be clean in body and heart.
A shrine may have several torii in a row, each taking the visitor deeper into sacred space. Some stand alone, before a sacred mountain, rock or tree.
Chapter II
Where it comes from
The origin of the torii is uncertain; its name may mean “bird perch”, and similar gates are found elsewhere in Asia. Torii were well established by the 8th century, when Japan’s first chronicles were written.
There are two main styles: the straight shinmei torii, simple and often of unpainted wood, as at the shrines of Ise, and the myojin torii with curved upper beams, often painted vermilion.
Chapter III
Where you see it today
Torii stand at the entrance to tens of thousands of shrines across Japan. The “floating” torii of Itsukushima Shrine, standing in the sea, and the tunnels of gates at Fushimi Inari in Kyoto are among the most photographed sights in Japan. On maps a torii marks a Shinto shrine.