Does the type of Japanese structure seen in this photo have a name?

March 4, 2007 4:50 PM

Does the type of Japanese structure seen in this photo have a name?

I'm looking for visual reference of the structure in this photo, usually seen in Japanese gardens and/or misty swamps, but I don't know what to google for. 'Japanese plinth' or 'Japanese pagoda' don't seem to do the trick. What are they called?

Pic

posted by BorgLove to society & culture (13 comments total)

Torii
posted by missmerrymack at 4:56 PM on March 4, 2007

Torii
posted by Aloysius Bear at 4:56 PM on March 4, 2007

Fast! Thank you, missmerrymack.
posted by BorgLove at 4:57 PM on March 4, 2007

You too, Aloysius.
posted by BorgLove at 4:58 PM on March 4, 2007

Wow.
posted by delmoi at 5:01 PM on March 4, 2007

Yeah.
posted by BorgLove at 5:07 PM on March 4, 2007

Ha. That was good. I've seen them referred to in some book as arches. And I remember thinking that was not a very good name for them, cause they're not really arched, except a little bit in the opposite direction that stone arches arch in.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 5:32 PM on March 4, 2007

They look better than arches too. The Japanese are so awesome.
posted by BorgLove at 5:46 PM on March 4, 2007

The one in your pic is an obvious copy of the big one at Miyajima, near Hiroshima, the frst photo on the wiki page. Many more photos here of variuos examples -- note the tubular shimmei-style, like at the Yasukini shrine, as well as the stacks of little baby-torii souvenirs.
posted by Rash at 9:55 PM on March 4, 2007

I was going to write what Rash wrote about Miyajima, but instead I'll just post a picture of another torii in the water, in this case in Japan's largest lake, Lake Biwa.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:29 AM on March 5, 2007

This is a great askme.

Simple question, simple answer, and I learned something I didn't even know that I didn't know.

So thanks, all.
posted by empath at 5:51 AM on March 5, 2007

Incidentally, torii is also the word for "bird," and they're called that because birds perch on top of them. (There may be another reason as well, but that's what I've been told.)
posted by soviet sleepover at 9:01 AM on March 5, 2007

soviet sleepover: yea, that's in the wikipedia article... "The origin of the word "torii" is not known. One theory is that it was designed for birds to rest, as hinted by the kanji (鳥 tori: bird; 居 i: place)..."
posted by CKmtl at 9:18 AM on March 5, 2007