Doors and Gates!

One of my Japanese obsessions is the doors and gates that are found throughout Japan.
There is nothing of equal here in Australia, mainly due to the fact that we have never had Emperor's or Shogun's or feudal lords with castles and surrounding gardens.

I love not only the sheer size of the doors and gates (most of them are just huge and intimidating), but the details found on each door or gate. The doors to temples are usually more ornate with metal decorations and the castle gates are usually more formal with crests and giant locks found on them. Some of the doors are plain wood left to weather and age superbly by the elements however there are some temples which have red doors and gates which contrast so well the the sometimes subdued surroundings.

The first two photos below are from Meiji Jingu shrine and I saw these on my very first day in Japan during my first trip.

The following red door is to an inner courtyard of a shrine in Nara. What was found inside the courtyard was one of the oldest wisteria trees in Japan which inspired poetry recorded some several hundred years ago. This in itself is awe inspiring, knowing that scholars were writing poetry about a beautiful tree which had sprouted from the ground before Australia had been colonised.

The next gate is one found in Nijo Castle in Kyoto. This gate separates one section of the castle grounds to another. I just love the criss-crossed inner panels and the imposing height of the gate.

Castle doors are quite another thing. They are truly on a grand scale as they were originally built to protect those found within and had to withstand possible sieges.

The next photos are from Himeji Castle (about and hour on the bullet train from Kyoto). What I love most about these types is that they are really doors within gates. As I walked through them, I imagined seeing the immense gates closed to have only the much smaller doors opened to messengers bringing news of some battle being fought by feudal Lords.

Aren't these just fantastic? Each door is unique with details different to the next. What is even better is the fact that you actually pass through many of the doors and gates directly where ordinary people, officials, feudal Lords and even samurai may have passed.

What do you think of the doors and gates?

What do you like most about them?

G