A ceremony was held to commemorate the completion of the Torii Gate of Izumi Shrine on August 28, 2020.
There used to be three Torii stone gates-one in front of the shrine building, one in front of Omote-sando (front approach), and one in front of Kita-sando (north approach). However, they were destroyed by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. They were removed for safety; thus there had been no Torii gate at Izumi shrine since then.
This time, only the Torii gate in front of the shrine building has been restored. Unlike before, it has been built out of Japanese cypress trees called nangouhi. These nangouhi trees were in the water catchment forest (in Nishihara Village of Aso County), which is owned by Izumi Shrine.
The shrine name, “Izumi Jinjya”, displayed on the gate’s tablet was written by Mr. Morihiro Hosokawa, the eighteenth head of the Hosokawa Family. It is a wonderful color and stately gate.
About the torii gate: It is built at the entrance of a Japanese shrine and consists of two pillars and one or two horizontal pillars connected at the top. It is believed to protect against evil spirits.
Link to：http://www.suizenji.or.jp/ (Japanease)
