Kasuga Shrine Approach Torii

What the Kasuga Shrine Approach Torii Is

Kasuga Shrine Approach Torii (春日神社参道鳥居, Kasuga Jinja Sando Torii) is a stone gateway erected in 1720 at the southern edge of Mikasayama Kasuga Shrine in Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 28, 2011. It marks the start of the approach from the south and stands directly in front of the shrine's dense woodland.

It is a myojin-style torii, 3.1 metres wide and 3.8 metres high. Its round pillars stand on base stones and lean slightly inward (Uchikorobi), tied together by a tie beam and a double lintel. The top lintel sweeps up sharply at both ends.

Why It Was Registered

The Kasuga Shrine Approach Torii is the oldest of the 13 registered structures. At a shrine whose timber buildings have burned and been rebuilt many times, this stone gateway has been greeting visitors for more than 300 years.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to its forceful elevation and to the way it sets the scene in front of the shrine forest, keeping a view that has existed since the Edo period. The registration criterion is contribution to the historic landscape, and here the landscape is the torii and the trees behind it taken together.

What to Look For

From the front, watch the curve of the top lintel. The strong upward flick at each end gives a gateway only 3.1 metres wide more presence than its size suggests.

Then step to the side. The two pillars tilt slightly inward as they rise, a detail that is easy to miss head-on and obvious in profile.

To the west of the precinct stands the west approach torii of 1934. It is almost the same size, 3.1 metres wide and 3.9 metres high, but its two lintels are of nearly equal depth and the whole top curves gently. Set against the sharply flicked ends of the Kasuga Shrine Approach Torii, it shows how the same torii type changed in feel over two centuries.

Visiting the Approach Torii

The torii stands in the open and can be seen at any time. View the lintel from the front, on the south side, and the leaning pillars from the side. Directions and general visiting information are on the Mikasayama Kasuga Shrine page.