Passage for the gods.

in #photography5 years ago

DSC08632-1.jpg

Vermillion is an auspicious colour in Japan and other parts of Asia as well. At this Shinto shrine, this is a section of Torii gates leading from the "main hall" portion of the shrine to the "residence of the god" where one of the 10,000 gods resides.

The characters on the lanterns and gates are the names of a person or company that has donated money to the shrine for upkeep and in turn they recieve a gate or lantern and blessing of good fortune.
The lantern has 田中正一 Tanaka Shoichi and that is the person who paid for it, similarly the first of the Torii gates in the photo has been sponsored by a 田中 Tanaka (family name) as well.