Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate

What the Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate is

The Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate (櫟原神社二の鳥居, Ichihara Jinja Ni-no-Torii) is a stone torii of 1921 standing before the worship hall of Ichihara Shrine in Shinmeicho, Namerikawa City, Toyama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

It stands where the approach, having passed the first torii, turns at a right angle in the Kaneore layout, and it is set to face the worship hall. It measures 3.5 m wide and 3.9 m high, a size smaller than the first torii at 4.6 m wide and 4.5 m high.

Why the Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate was registered

The Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017, together with the main hall, worship hall and first torii. It was recognised for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a well-proportioned gate that, at the eastern edge of old Namerikawa, gives order to the grounds in front of the worship hall. Where the first torii announces the shrine to the highway, the second torii works inside the precinct, squaring up to the worship hall and fixing the line along which people approach to pray.

Its type is the Nakayama torii. As the Agency explains, the defining trait is that the Nuki tie beam stops at the pillars instead of running past them. In the common Myōjin torii the ends of the tie beam project beyond the pillars; here they finish flush.

It went up in 1921, about 6 years after the worship hall of around 1915. The order matters: the new Taisho-era worship hall came first, and the second torii was then placed in front of it.

What to look for at the Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate

Check the ends of the tie beam first. Look at the outer face of a pillar and you will see the beam stop there instead of passing through. That single detail is what makes it a Nakayama torii, so compare it with the tie beam of the first torii.

Next, look through the gate to the hall. Because the Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate is set to face the worship hall, the pillars and the Kasagi top beam frame the front of the hall. The view opens up straight ahead just after you round the bend.

Notice the difference in scale as well. It is 1.1 m narrower than the first torii and 0.6 m lower, so the gates grow smaller as you go deeper and the worship hall draws closer.

Visiting the Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate

The Ichihara Shrine Second Torii Gate is an outdoor gate on the path just in front of the worship hall, and its exterior can be seen once you are in the grounds. It is also the way people walk to pray, so do not block the path if you stop to look.

To photograph the gate together with the front of the worship hall, stand just past the bend in the approach. Refrain from photography during rituals.