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torii
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Large red torii gate with a curved roof stands in the water at the Itsukushima Shrine on Itsuku Island, Japan, with mountains and shoreline in the background. A large red torii gate stands at the entrance to a forest path leading to a Shinto shrine at Hakone-yama, Japan, flanked by stone lanterns and tall trees. Torii (gateway) to the Futarasan Shrine in Nikkō, Japan.
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Large red torii gate with a curved roof stands in the water at the Itsukushima Shrine on Itsuku Island, Japan, with mountains and shoreline in the background.
Torii at Itsuku Island, Japan.

torii

Japanese architecture
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History
A large red torii gate stands at the entrance to a forest path leading to a Shinto shrine at Hakone-yama, Japan, flanked by stone lanterns and tall trees.
1 of 2
Shintō shrine gatewayTorii (gateway) at the entrance to a Shintō shrine on Mount Hakone, east-central Honshu, Japan.
Torii (gateway) to the Futarasan Shrine in Nikkō, Japan.
2 of 2
Torii (gateway) to the Futarasan Shrine in Nikkō, Japan.

torii, symbolic gateway marking the entrance to the sacred precincts of a Shintō shrine in Japan. The torii, which has many variations, characteristically consists of two cylindrical vertical posts topped by a crosswise rectangular beam extending beyond the posts on either side and a second crosswise beam a short distance below the first. Some authorities relate the torii to the Indian gateway arch, the torana, which reached Japan with the spread of Buddhism. Others connect the torii with traditional gates in Manchuria and elsewhere in China. The torii, often painted bright red, demarcates the boundary between the sacred space of the shrine and ordinary space. Torii also identify other sacred spots, such as a mountain or rock.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Zeidan.