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The road leading to a Shinto shrine (sandō) is almost always straddled by one or more torii, often painted bright red, that demarcate the boundary between the sacred space of the sandō and ordinary space. The outer torii is called ichi no torii ("first torii"), followed by ni no torii ("second torii"), and san no torii ("third torii"). Other torii found farther in represent increasing levels of holiness as one nears the inner sanctuary (honden). Characteristically, they consist of 2 cylindrical vertical posts topped by a crosswise rectangular beam extending beyond the posts on either side and a 2nd one a short distance below it. The kanji characters mean “where the bird is" and may be related to the sun goddess Amaterasu ("that which illuminates Heaven"). In a pique of anger at her brother Susano'o, the god of storms and the sea, she hid herself inside Ama-no-Iwato, the "heavenly rock cave," plunging the world into darkness. To lure her out, the gods put a rooster in front of the cave and made it crow. Thinking that dawn had arrived without her, Amaterasu went outside to investigate and the cave was sealed up to keep her from returning.
The road leading to a Shinto shrine (sandō) is almost always straddled by one or more torii, often painted bright red, that demarcate the boundary between the sacred space of the sandō and ordinary space. The outer torii is called ichi no torii ("first torii"), followed by ni no torii ("second torii"), and san no torii ("third torii"). Other torii found farther in represent increasing levels of holiness as one nears the inner sanctuary (honden). Characteristically, they consist of 2 cylindrical vertical posts topped by a crosswise rectangular beam extending beyond the posts on either side and a 2nd one a short distance below it. The kanji characters mean “where the bird is" and may be related to the sun goddess Amaterasu ("that which illuminates Heaven"). In a pique of anger at her brother Susano'o, the god of storms and the sea, she hid herself inside Ama-no-Iwato, the "heavenly rock cave," plunging the world into darkness. To lure her out, the gods put a rooster in front of the cave and made it crow. Thinking that dawn had arrived without her, Amaterasu went outside to investigate and the cave was sealed up to keep her from returning.
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