Wyoming Breezes

Torii gates Beppu, Japan April 1980 These torii gates were on the temple grounds of the Beppu Buddha, shown in a previous post . Food to feed the temple deer could be purchased from the red box in the lower right of the photo. Torii gates were common on temple grounds as I explained in this previous post.

Torii gate to rural Shinto shrine Southern Japan Nancy Stearns and Judy Loxtercamp April 1980 No matter the size of the shrine or its location, the pathway always has at least one  torii gate. Usually the gates are painted bright red, but some are rustic like the one pictured above. The torii gates symbolize the transition from everyday life into a sacred place: if a shrine has multiple torii, the gates increase the level of holiness for the believer approaching the inner sanctuary. A floating torii can be seen in this previous Foreign Friday post .

Torii gates Beppu, Japan April 1980 Earlier posts with other images of torii gates can be seen here .

Steam from hot spring and torii gate Southern Japan April 1980 Japan has a lot of hot springs, so steam is as common as Torii gates on temple grounds.