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purification of the Shintô temples was the removal of these tablets. The etymology of the word is evidently ‘bird-rest.’ The torii gradually assumed the character of a general symbol of Shintô, and the number which might be erected to the honour of a deity became practically unlimited. The Buddhists made it of stone or bronze, and frequently of red-painted wood, and developed various forms. It is to the present day a favourite subject for ex-voto.
About a hundred yards up the road through the grove stands a second torii, exactly similar to the first, and on passing through this the pilgrim comes in view of an oblong enclosure, situated close to the road by the right-hand side.
This enclosure is built of cryptomeria, as is the rule with all Shintô structures, neatly planed and perfectly free from any kind of paint. It is formed of upright posts about nine feet high, planted at intervals of six feet, the intervals being completely built up with planks placed horizontally. According to a plan given to me by the second official in charge of the temple, the front, which faces the road, is 247 feet in length; the right side, supposing the spectator to be standing with his face to the entrance, is 339 feet, the left side 335 feet, and the rear only 235 feet in length. It thus appears that the shape is that of an irregular oblong, the formation of the ground rather than any necessary relation of numbers having determined the proportions. This enclosure is called the Itagaki.
A little on one side of the centre of the front face is the outer entrance, eighteen feet in width, formed by a torii similar in shape to the other two, but of smaller dimensions. It is called San no torii in the drawing given in volume 4 of the Isé sangû Meisho Dzuyé, but Itagaki go mon in the plan above referred to. Opposite to it, at a distance of 76 feet, stands a wooden screen, called bampei, or fence, which recalls to mind the brick-built screen which in China occupies a similar position before the gate of a yamên or private dwelling of a rich
