This is a series of posts describing the many varieties of Japanese gate, or mon (門). If you look at the preceding kanji more closely, you can think of it as a picture of a pair of swinging doors, reminiscent of saloon doors in a wild west movie. I thought that it would be a nice idea to bring more awareness to a western audience as to the tremendous diversity in forms and types of Japanese gates. This series intends to be a gateway to gates.
Previous posts in this series:
The word tansō (単層) refers to such things as geological strata, layers, laminae, and, by extension, social class. A tansōmon is a layer of sorts too: it is an eight-legged gate (hyakkyaku-mon) which lacks a second story altogether – it is but a simple, single layer version of the eight-legged gate. This form of gate associates primarily with shrines, not temples. Ordinary shines are called jinja (神社).
Let’s start with an example from Ehara Sengen Jinja (江原浅間神社) in Yamagata Prefecture:
No niō to be found here:
Umi Jinja (宇美神社) in Niigata Prefecture:
Next, in Yamanashi City, Yamanashi Prefecture, there is Nakamaki Jinja (中牧神社):
A peek through the gate to see the honden, or main shrine building:
Time for some color! Kandaten Jinja (菅田天神社) in Kōshō City (甲州市) – also located in Yamanashi Prefecture, and erected in 842:
Nice examples of the tasoya type of shrine lantern, with the more complex type of window lattice involving radiating verticals.
And a view looking through the opening of the gate to the precinct beyond:
A shimenawa also graces the entry of the honden:
All for today – I could show many more examples of this gate, however the form is fairly consistent from gate to gate so there seems like little point in simply showing more examples. This series continues – thanks for coming by the Carpentry Way. On to post 22