Torii -ritual gate,installed beforeShinto shrines, have special meaning for the Japanese. But this gate is not a symbol good luck or happiness. Torii symbolize the border between the earthly world and the sacred world. In Japan, it is believed that through these sacred gates the souls of the dead fly to another world. The sacred world is called by the Japanese "kami ".
Gate "bird perch"
Traditionally, torii (meaning "bird perch" in Japanese) are red-painted gates without wings. Usually they consist of two pillars connected on top by two crossbars. The top bar of the torii is called the kasagi, and the bottom bar, just below it, is called the nuki. Kasagi translates as "upper crossbeam, beam", and nuki - "beam, cross rail". Unfortunately, there is no more poetic translation here ... Torii is one of the most recognizable signs of the Country rising sun. Well, let alone the torii of Itsukushima Shrine, rising right out of the water, are the most famous and largest.
Torii - the gate is purely symbolic
In ancient times, they were made of wood (often precious woods), painted red and decorated with hieroglyphs or discreet designs. They are usually installed near Shinto shrines. Often the temple has not one such gate, but several. The more of them, the better: the gates are donated to the temple in honor of any events by Shinto believers. One of the temples in Kyoto (Fushimi Inari Shrine) has a whole gallery of torii because it is believed that a person who has achieved success must make a donation to the torii temple. In this gallery, the red gates are set almost close to each other and form a long passage, arranged so that the sun shines through the cracks between them.
Gate to the "other world" or symbols of good luck?
Maybe torii is somewhat reminiscent of our Western triumphal arches but their meaning is completely different. They are not talking about any triumph. Their purpose is to symbolize the border between the ordinary and the sacred world. That is, passing under the torii, you can find yourself in the world of kami - divine entities that inhabit surrounding a person world. Or you may not be, it's all up to you! Denoting entrance and exit, torii are equal to any transformation, any transition. Therefore, it is believed that when the sun enters them, the souls of the ancestors leave through them. The Japanese have a belief - the birds sit on the crossbar and, flying away, carry away the souls of dead people.
Torii in Japan symbolize good luck, and this is due to the legend of their origin. Allegedly, once the sun goddess Amaterasu hid in a cave, and darkness covered the world. To lure the offended goddess, people built the first torii - wooden gate. They put all the roosters they could get on them. Amaterasu heard the morning birdsong and looked out of the cave. So the sun again appeared in the sky, and the goddess was not allowed back into the cave. According to this version, the torii just depict a perch for roosters, who lured the goddess Amaterasu with their cry. But there is another legend, according to which the god Yamato, as a sign of victory over his eastern neighbors, hung a whisk on the gates of his temple - a symbol of good luck associated with the cult of the rooster, and from that time such gates began to be built near the temples.
Originally, torii were very simple in design. They consisted of unfinished wooden posts and two horizontal bars of certain proportions. From the descriptions in the Kojiki Monogotari, the first extant literary monument Japan, it is clear that yes - at the very beginning it was just two pillars with an upper cross-beam without a roof. Later, the pillars and crossbars began to be processed, but left unpainted. Then, under the influence chinese style, the beams began to be painted, and the design of the gate itself became more complicated until the appearance of such exquisitely decorated examples as the magnificent red-lacquered torii standing in the water in front of Itsukushima Shrine on the island of Miyajima.
"Floating Gate"
However, there is a special discussion about these torii, because they are the most recognizable torii in Japan. They were built in 1875 from camphor wood. The height of the gate is 16 meters and, like the others, it is made up of two vertical posts and two horizontal bars. Torii from the sea open the entrance to a large temple complex. They stand at some distance from the temple and - on the territory of the bay. And this, perhaps, is their main charm. In the evening, you can see how the setting sun sets in the sloping bowl of the upper crossbar of the torii. Every time the tide is high, the torii are in the water, and this is how they are usually photographed. When the tide rises, it seems that it is not the waters running through the gate, but the torii themselves glide smoothly over the surface of the waters.
The fame of these torii is also due to the fact that Itsukushima Shrine is not an ordinary one. It is one of the most important shrines in Japan, and above all because the island of Miyajima, which is entirely occupied by a monastery and a temple, was not allowed for centuries by commoners, while today it is forbidden to bring dogs here. There are no graves on the sacred island: people have never been born or died here. In addition to wooden buildings connected by galleries, the island is also famous for its five-tiered pagoda, the "Hall of a Thousand Mats", and a house built in the water on stilts. But the main attraction of Itsukushima Shrine, its tourist symbol, are these "floating torii", the largest and most famous torii in the country.
Not just gates, but status symbols
It is interesting that even an ordinary gate in Japan has always served not only to restrict entry to the territory, but also indicated social status families living behind them. IN ancient capital Heian, now the city of Kyoto, noble aristocrats competed in the construction of luxurious gates on the streets of the city. And, of course, the gates to imperial palace. Nevertheless, although houses with gates were the privilege of only the highest nobility, over time this bar was lowered more and more, although even in the 17th and 18th centuries the petty bourgeoisie was forbidden to have gates, and commoners received the right to freely build them only from the beginning of the 19th century . These days the gates don't carry such a bright social significance, but their appearance can still tell a lot about their owner.
In some temples, devout parishioners are encouraged in every possible way to give torii to the temple, and they regard this as a sign of special attention, well, and grace naturally descends on the donor in this case. But space is scarce in Japan, and land is expensive, so they are often, as in the case of the Inari Temple of the Rice God in Kyoto, built close together along the approach to the main or secondary shrine, so that they form an arcade. But you may well meet torii somewhere in the thicket of the forest, where there is no road, only one narrow path. It is believed that if this happened to you, then this means a special favor of the kami, although there is another point of view that the kami specially brought you to such a secluded place to the gate between our worlds so that you could think in silence about the vanity of being and, perhaps in some way to correct their behavior.
Emblem forever
Previously, torii were always made from logs, but then the tree was replaced with stone and even metal, and in Lately reinforced concrete is increasingly being used in their construction. There are over twenty various kinds torii, differing in design. Most of them are named after the temples next to which they are built. For example, there are Ise torii, Hachiman torii from Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, Miwa torii from Omiwa Shrine, etc. samurai, they flaunted on their nobori and sashimono flags, which served for identification on the battlefield. In any case, torii for the Japanese is the "emblem forever"!
The Japanese garden in the form in which it is known to the whole world is inextricably linked with a thousand-year-old spiritual culture. Japanese islands. Perhaps nothing reflects this unity better than traditional Japanese gates over the centuries, they play an important symbolic role and remain one of the main details of a classic Japanese garden (pictured).
The key to success when creating a garden Japanese style not in literally copying its individual elements, but in understanding the meaning that the Japanese themselves put into every detail of the garden space, and the meaning of the overall composition.
Until the 19th century, gates, as an element of architecture, could only be afforded by representatives of Japanese nobility. In addition, the gate was an integral part of the tea gardens and played a significant role in the ceremony itself.
- The first covered threshold at the entrance to such a garden opened behind a covered gate that separated it from the outside world (photo above).
- Depending on the size of the garden, the guest had to go through several symbolic thresholds in the form of gates; this whole journey was poetically called "the path of tea".
Almost anyone who is familiar with the simplest carpentry can recreate the gate from the Japanese tea gardens of a century ago. Construction scheme Japanese gate with a roof is shown in the photo below.
Scheme - a drawing for the construction of a Japanese gate
The Japanese-style gate construction technology, which is simple at its core, requires the selection of stylistically correct materials for construction and decoration, such as massive tiles (pictured below).
The torii gate is one of the symbols of Japan (pictured below), their construction is quite fast - these are two wooden posts with two crossbars.
Initially, the wood for torii was not even painted or processed, later, under the influence of China, the tradition spread to cover them with red paint and hieroglyphs, and the wood was gradually replaced by stone.
Although torii gates are the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Japanese architecture, installing them as decorative element not worth it.
These gates have always had a sacred purpose, they draw a symbolic line between the spiritual and the earthly. Torii are installed only at the entrance to the temple or to the cemetery.
Types of Japanese-style garden gates
IN modern Japan even the sacred torii gates are made of ordinary concrete, while the design does not lose its charm. Therefore, the choice of material is quite wide, but in order not to be mistaken, it is worth giving preference to natural materials.
Modern Japanese gardens still decorate gates, but with a simpler design:
- Hiramon or hirakado - a construction of two pillars and a roof;
- Kidamon - single-leaf gate-wicket without a roof;
- Kubikimon - a gate with a crossbar without a roof;
- Munamon is a construction with a gable roof on two pillars without struts.
All of these most common types of gate designs are shown in the photo below.
Most of the Japanese style gates have simple design and looks great in the design of modern sites, as, for example, in the photo below.
However, the simplicity of the gate design in the Japanese style is extremely deceptive.
A cubekimon gate without stylistic support from the surrounding landscape can easily turn into a garden partition, say, in the Mediterranean style. Therefore, maintaining stylistic unity here plays an extremely important role, otherwise the gate or other landscape element will look random, out of place and ridiculous.
In the design of the site in the Japanese style and in the construction of the gate in particular, not only the form is important, but also the material, it is he who clearly marks the belonging of the object to Japanese traditions.
The basis of the gate design in the Japanese style is wood. Traditional roofing materials for roofs: tes, copper, iron, tiles (both small and massive).
Support Japanese motifs in garden design and beat the gate today, you can use available plants. It is not necessary to plant sakura, red maple in an attempt to reproduce on the site imperial gardens the Edo period.
- In most garden centers, you can purchase frost-resistant varieties of bamboo that will perfectly complement Japanese-style gates that act as front doors.
- For the distant and medium plan of the garden, you can use flowering varieties of plums (Ussuri, Chinese willow, apricot), as well as decorative apple trees with different colors of flowers and many other plants suitable for your climate zone.
- Shrubs with lush color can be used as bright spots, for example: Japanese quince, weigela, action, euonymus and barberries.
- It is important to have one or two dominant colors in a Japanese garden, which can change throughout the seasons.
- Traditional combination: red and green and white and green. The abundance of variegated flowers here is in any case inappropriate. It is better to experiment with perennial shrubs of different shades, but within the same colors.
- Stones in any form are always appropriate in the Japanese garden. It can be a path strewn with fine gravel or rubble, a rockery, or even whole garden stones.
The color scheme of the buildings themselves, including the gates, should be as restrained and natural as possible. It is important to take into account that bright colors, if we talk about the Japanese style, they are mainly inherent in public places, places of worship, but not in private, classical gardens.
TORII - an indispensable attribute of any Shinto shrine - U-shaped gate with two crossbars on top.
The number of torii installed in the country is impossible to calculate. It's not even about the huge number of Shinto temples themselves - and there are now more than 85 thousand of them in Japan. Each temple, large or small, can have several gates, the number of which is determined not so much by religious canons or architectural needs, but by the generosity of local sponsors, who are ready to fork out for new torii for the local temple in memory of some important event.
The size of such gates can be very different - from huge, almost cyclopean structures several tens of meters high to miniature ones, 1.5 meters high, which can only be entered by bending down. They can rise alone above a path or road, or they can make up an entire colonnade, even if it resembles a palisade of poles.
The material used in their construction is also very different. Most often it is wood painted with minium. For larger structures, whole trunks of huge, two-girth Japanese cryptomeria are used. There are, although rather rare, torii, welded or riveted from iron beams, through the external carmine painting of which rust begins to break through with time. There are temple gates made of bronze and even granite. Often erected, especially recently, structures made of unpainted reinforced concrete, often lost against the background of the usual urban colors - the gray walls of houses and dusty asphalt, although the builders, trying to give them at least a hint traditional look, cover the hardening concrete of the pillars with a pattern resembling the rough bark of cryptomeria.
Peculiar calling card Japan became the gateway to the temple on the small island of MiYajima near Hiroshima. Here, about 850 years ago (when only a few peasant houses stood on the site of Moscow!) The amazingly beautiful Itsukushima Shrine, dedicated to the sea deity, was erected.
The builders carried purple-red 16-meter torii, cut down from camphor wood, directly into the coastal waters. If you swim up to Miyajima from the sea at high tide, it seems as if fiery streams are knocked out of the water, forming the outline of the temple gates.
But the torii of Miyajima are also amazing at low tide, when the water leaves the shore for 300 meters and you can approach the gate on dry land. Then the base of the pillars, overgrown with green algae, opens up to the eye, and you begin to understand that this miracle was once erected not by God's providence, but by the work of ordinary Japanese, who possessed not only the necessary building skills, but also a magnificent sense of beauty. After all, they truly inscribed the temple and its torii in surrounding landscape like a jeweler cuts priceless gem in an equally beautiful frame.
Torii are as characteristic of Japan as, say, the domes of Orthodox bell towers are for Russia. And just as exceptional. In other countries, they can be found very rarely and only in places where Japanese communities are densely populated, if they receive permission to build their own Shinto shrine. True, there were times when the Japanese built Shinto shrines on lands seized as a result of wars. So, quite actively these places of worship were erected on the territory of Manzhou-Guo, on the occupied lands in South-East Asia. But after the defeat of Japan in 1945, almost all of them were destroyed.
The very origin of torii is closely connected with the mythological history of Japan.
One day, the god of wind and storm Susanoo raged and did a lot of disgrace, destroying the rice fields, defiling the dwelling of his sister, the sun goddess Amaterasu.
Insulted, Amaterasu took refuge in the heavenly cave, tightly shutting the door behind her. The world plunged into darkness. To lure Amaterasu out of hiding, the celestial deities tried many methods - arranged dances at her door, hung out various decorations at the entrance to the cave. The bet was also made on vociferous roosters, capable of awakening even a sleeping goddess. In front of the cave was built a high perch (jap. torii), which housed a flock of birds. As a result of many different tricks, the sun goddess was lured out of the cave, the light returned to the world again. But since then, torii have become an indispensable attribute of any temple dedicated to the Shinto gods - "kami".
Torii. The entrance to each temple, with the exception of small roadside temples, is marked with special gates - torii (there may be several). This gate symbolizes the border between the earthly mortal world and the spiritual world of the kami. Eat controversial version, according to which torii were brought from the Asian continent. There is also a dubious interpretation of the word itself. By combining the hieroglyphs tori ("bird") and and ("to be"), it can be read as "bird perch". Alas, true value the words torii are forgotten, as well as their origin.
IN ancient japan torii were used as ordinary gates, but over time they became an attribute only of Shinto shrines, the imperial mausoleum and some cemeteries. Sometimes you can find torii near a tree, near a rock or a spring.
In 1884, a law was passed according to which torii could only be used by state temples and some shrines of Shinto sects. shusei And taisei. Now that this law is no longer in effect, torii can still be seen only near Shinto shrines, several shrines of the sects mentioned above, at the entrance to the imperial mausoleum and in front of some burials. If such a gate is located at the entrance to a Buddhist temple complex, which does not have a cemetery, then there is probably a Shinto shrine nearby, most often on the top of a small mountain.
In some temples, devout worshipers are encouraged to donate torii to the temple, and this is regarded as a special offering. They are often erected close together along the approach to the main or secondary sanctuary, so that they form an arcade. The temples of the rice god Inari are famous for such picturesque arcades, especially the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto.
Relatively rarely, torii are installed over a busy road. The most famous such gate is in front of the Heian Temple in Kyoto. Some temples, such as Tsurugaoka Hachiman in Kamakura, are reached by a road that starts far outside the temple complex, on which several torii have been erected. These symbolic gates remind people of the presence of kami among them and at one time were considered part of the temple complex.
Originally, torii were very simple in design. They consisted of unfinished wooden posts and two horizontal bars of certain proportions. Later, the pillars and crossbars began to be processed, but left unpainted. Then, under the influence of the Chinese style, the beams began to be painted, and the design of the gate itself became more complicated until the appearance of such exquisitely decorated examples as the magnificent red-lacquered torii standing in the water in front of Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island.
Many Japanese traditions may seem eternal, because since the Middle Ages they have not changed much. Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun still take care of tea ceremonies, costumes, Japanese literature and theater. And the contemplation of flowering gardens and the full moon in the sky, despite the growing pace of life, has remained an important part of the life of the Japanese. All this has to do with belief in spiritual world and that there is some kind of connection with it.
Story
Today we will talk about one of these traditions, namely the installation of ritual gates - thorium. We boldly call torii ritual because their appearance in the architecture of Japan is associated with many myths and legends. One of these legends explains the meaning of the word torii: translated from Japanese, it means a perch, a nest. The story goes that, sitting on a high perch, a flock of birds (vociferous roosters) tried to lure the deity out of the cave. This deity was the incarnation of the Sun, and when it came out of the cave, light shone again in the world.
Let's talk in this article about what place the gate, in particular torii, occupied in the culture of the Japanese. And what types of gates can be distinguished.
sacred gate in japan As in many cultures, in Japan, a person's social position is determined by specific characteristics. The fence in front of the house could tell a lot about what kind of family lives behind it. Up to the 19th century. only the Japanese aristocracy could afford such an architectural element as a gate. The nobility even arranged something like competitions on the streets of the city for their construction. And although now the gates in front of the house do not determine the social position so clearly, it is believed that they can still tell a lot about their owner.
Gates were also an obligatory architectural part of tea gardens. For tea ceremonies, houses were built, to which a garden with a gate and a path led.
Torii cannot be called a full-fledged fence, because they do not have wings and consist of only two, more often wooden, vertical pillars and several crossbars. Rather, it is a guideline. An invitation to enter. The Japanese consider them the border between two worlds. Not surprisingly, torii can be seen in front of the entrance to a Shinto shrine or cemetery. Sometimes they can be found near a tree, mountain or spring. Rarely over the road.
material for torii
Torii are constructed from precious wood (cryptomeria, camphor wood), traditionally painted red and painted with a discreet pattern or hieroglyphs. In our time, the material, of course, is more diverse. You can find torii made of bronze, granite, reinforced concrete. As in many other countries, believing sponsors allocate money for the construction of places of worship.
In Tokyo is famous alley from standing close thorium. They take a long road to the temple.
Torii alley in Tokyo The most recognizable are the torii at Itsukushima Shrine. The gates were erected right in the water and from the side of the sea they invite you to enter the most important shrine of the country.
Gate at Itsukushima Stone torii are installed at the entrance to the temple in the city of Nagasaki. They miraculously survived the explosion of the atomic bomb.
It is clear that no one can forbid you to build torii in your garden (especially since it is not difficult to do it yourself), but do not forget that whole nation invest in this building symbolic meaning and sacred meaning.
Purpose of thorium
Torii have the same name as the temples they stand in front of. Torii are the most recognizable symbol modern Japan.
Every tourist who has visited this country must have at least one photo against the backdrop of these mysterious gates. You can also see them on family coats of arms and flags.
Of course, besides torii, the Japanese also install other gates near temples and shrines. These are full-fledged massive gates with wings and they can be locked at night. Some of them look amazing because they rest under the roof. Temple gates can be divided into two types.
Until the 19th century, Buddhist temples were located in Shinto temple complexes, and Buddhist rites were held. Elements of the cult were borrowed from each other, and the teachings were mixed. But after the Meiji Revolution of 1868-1889. issued a decree on the distinction between Shinto and Buddhism. This marked the beginning of new traditions. At this time, gates were built in the Shinto style without admixture of other religions. They had a simple design: unpainted beams under a thatched, tiled, copper roof. An example of such a gate can be found in the largest Shinto shrine, Meiji Jingu in Tokyo. The temple was built in honor of Emperor Meiji and his wife. And also at Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo, which is the center of Shinto religious ceremonies.
simple gate Buddhism
The second type of gate is an impressive structure. These two-story gates are traditionally painted red or black and sumptuously decorated. The image is completed by sculptures on the sides of the gate. It can be paired guards - a lion, a dog, a deer. From vandals and harm, they are protected by a fence. The style of these gates was formed when Buddhist teachings dominated Japan. An example of such a gate is the Yomeimon gate. They amaze with their architectural and design ideas. Nearly 300 images of iconic Japanese animals, sages and all sorts of patterns bring the walls of the gate to life. They are rightfully considered the cultural and national heritage of Japan. The gate in front of the Yasaka Shrine is also worthy of special attention. In traditional red under an intricate roof (Japanese roofs began to be built over gates under the influence Chinese culture) they constantly attract many believers and tourists.
Yomeimon Gate tea gardens
The Japanese decorate their gardens with gates of a simpler design. These are two pillars with a gate, plus a simple or gable roof (or without it). Literally for one century in Japan there was a tradition to break tea gardens. And the gates in them were placed with meaning. By tradition, guests were greeted either with ajar or wide open gates. After the last guest, the gate closed and the ceremony began. Interest in everything sacred made them believe that vanity and frailty remained there, beyond the garden and the gate separate the two worlds.
The Japanese are known for their love of harmony, so you won't find tall gates in small tea gardens.
The large gardens alternated paintings depicting certain historical events. Massive gates and gates are installed in them, separating one stage from another.
Tea garden with torii Torii today
But don't be deceived by the apparent simplicity of the Japanese gate design. A two-post gate with a crossbar without a roof easily turns into a simple partition if the surrounding landscape is not designed in the right style. If you are planning to set up a Japanese-style garden on your site, then avoid using different stylistic directions. Then the gate or some plot will not look ridiculous. We also advise you to pay attention to the material of the gate - traditionally it is wood. And the roof can be covered with copper, iron or small / large tiles.
Modern torii Plant selection
And of course, if we are talking about the garden, we cannot but mention the plants. To create a Japanese touch in your garden, decorate your front gate with cold-resistant bamboo. Use ornamental plum, apple, and apricot varieties. Add bright colors with barberry and quince. In the Japanese style, the predominant colors are traced: red, green, white. It is important not to overdo it with variegation. Let the colors be natural. Japanese gardens are not lush, they should encourage solitude, peace. And, of course, stones. Fine gravel, crushed stone, rockeries, - stones in any form. In Japan, stones are considered the most perfect material.
Plants for the Japanese garden In Japanese gardens, gates create a single image with arches and gazebos. This is achieved by the illusion that even objects created by humans are actually created by nature. But don't worry, it's actually not that hard of a task. Although Japanese gardens are quite exotic, their arrangement does not require large expenses. And gates, for example, made of bamboo will cost no more than installing ordinary ones.
