Omi Shrine Second Torii

The Gate Where the Approach Turns

Omi Jingu Daini Torii (近江神宮第二鳥居, also written Ōmi Jingū Dai-ni Torii), the second torii gate at Omi Jingu in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, was erected in 1940 and was placed on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998.

It stands at the head of the stone steps that close the far end of the main approach. Walk in from the first torii, follow the gravel avenue to its end, climb the steps, and this gate is waiting at the top. Timber construction, 6.4 metres wide, slightly smaller than the first.

It also marks the point at which the route stops running straight.

A Change of Direction, Built In

Passing beneath this gate, visitors turn right. They go on past the purification basin, then climb a second flight of stone steps on the left towards the vermilion tower gate. The approach does not run in one line from road to sanctuary; it bends here, and the bend is deliberate.

Shrine approaches that turn are a long-established device. A straight axis delivers a visitor to the sanctuary in a single view, which suits a building meant to impress. A turn withholds the destination and asks for a small act of submission from anyone walking it, since you cannot see where you are going until you have committed to the change of direction. At Omi Jingu the device also had a practical dimension, because the shrine was laid out across a hillside and a single straight axis would have meant fighting the ground.

The gate itself follows the same myojin form as the first torii: curved upper member with the island beam beneath it, round posts leaning slightly inwards, a square-section tie beam and a central strut. At 6.4 metres it is the smaller of the two, which suits its position within the precinct rather than at its edge.

It belongs to the first construction campaign, completed in 1940, the year Omi Jingu was founded to enshrine Emperor Tenji, who moved the capital to Otsu in 667. The complex was planned within the Home Ministry's Shrine Bureau by Sunami Takashi and Tani Shigeo. Registration came on 9 October 1998 under number 25-0092, with the criterion that it serves as a model of design.

What to Look For

Stop at the top of the steps before turning. Look back down the avenue you have just walked, then forward at the ground rising ahead, and the shape of the whole visit becomes clear in a few seconds.

Behind and to the left of this gate stands the visitors' rest house of 1944, also on the register and now operating as a small sweets shop. It is the only registered building at Omi Jingu whose interior is open, which makes this corner of the precinct unusually rewarding: a registered gate, a registered rest house you can sit inside, and a view back down the approach.

Compare the two torii while both are fresh. Same form, four years apart, 6.4 metres here against 7.3 at the entrance.

The gate stands in the open and can be seen and photographed freely; the grounds are open 6:00 to 18:00 without charge. Omi-jingu-mae station on the Keihan Ishiyama-Sakamoto line is a nine-minute walk, and there are 200 free parking spaces outside the New Year period.