Japanese spiritual architecture - Shime, the simplest torii

Torii, the well known Japanese gate that marks the entrance to the sacred grounds of the Shinto shrines, is usually made from two vertical pillars (hashira in Japanese) with a large horizontal beam on top (called kasagi) and connected by a second, smaller horizontal beam, nuki. Starting from this structure, a wide variety of torii styles appeared, depending on shrine’s architecture or enshrined deity.

But, as usual, there are also exceptions: in a few shrines, you can encounter a much simpler torii, like the one in this photo, taken at the Gokoku Shrine from Hiroshima. Called shime torii, this is actually the simplest version, with only two pillars tied together by a shimenawa.

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Gokoku Shrine, Hiroshima

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