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This Shinto shrine’s gorgeous glass gateways are the only ones of their kind in all Japan【Photos】

Casey Baseel Aug 17, 2018
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Torii gates always have an elegant allure, but none quite like this shrine’s.

Sometimes, visitors to Japan have trouble differentiating Shinto shrines from Buddhist temples. The easiest way is to look for a torii, a gateway of two pillars connected by two crossbeams. If there’s a torii at the entrance, you’re in a shrine.

Torii are usually bright orange or red, but some are made of unpainted wood, like the torii at Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine. Sometimes you’ll also find torii made out of gray stone. However, there’s only one place in Japan where you’ll see a torii that’s practically clear.

▼ To the extent that you can see something that’s see-through, anyway.

https://twitter.com/fumin_fuq/status/1029201271142502400

That’s the entrance to Jintoki Inari Shrine in Kanoya, a city in Kagoshima Prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu. While construction of the shrine finished in March, it hadn’t attracted much attention until this week when Japanese Twitter user @DJ_HARABO snapped and shared a photo of its glass torii, which quickly went viral for its unique beauty.

ガラスの鳥居初めて見た⛩綺麗！ pic.twitter.com/kBaL13a0L5

— ハラボー (@DJ_HARABO) August 12, 2018

@DJ_HARABO isn’t the only shutterbug to have visited Jintoki Inari this summer, though. Other locals and travelers have been posting their own photos of the glass torii, which has a faint blue-green tint to it that almost makes it look like it’s made out of water, or even light, in some pictures.

https://twitter.com/gsr250ysmr/status/1023099545092116480

The shrine actually has two glass torii. One is at the entrance to the shrine grounds, while the other is further back, standing in a pool traversed by a bridge that leads to the shrine’s administrative office.

https://twitter.com/nukchu/status/1029335479269748737

Since the shrine is dedicated to Inari, the god of agriculture, rice, and commerce, statues of foxes, the deity’s messengers, stand next to the torii, much like the ones seen at Kyoto’s famous Fushimi Inari Shrine. Also like at Fushimi, there’s a long tunnel of wooden torii gates at Jintoku Inari, with roughly 100 of the structures leading from one of its glass torii to the other.

身を清めてから行けばよかった pic.twitter.com/reQ1FQFehN

— ハラボー (@DJ_HARABO) August 12, 2018

よかったら行ってみて#神徳稲荷神社 #鹿屋市 pic.twitter.com/cOizsoIZft

— ちびゆぅ♪ (@pJ6r30ERyvZIjSc) April 16, 2018

https://twitter.com/UXSxkXBYbwXe4Em/status/1029675284214108160

And if you’re thinking the whole place looks not only beautiful, but romantic too, you’ll be happy to know that Jintoku Inari is available as a venue for weddings and bridal photography.

フォロワーさんの写真見て、行ってみたかった鹿屋の神徳稲荷神社は
ロックンロールな次世代型神社だった pic.twitter.com/0mu01IZ0Tx

— 週末ツーリンガー (@goproer) August 4, 2018

As a matter of fact, Jintoku Inari’s glass gateway is so captivatingly elegant that we wouldn’t blame the shrine from anime Lucky Star, which is currently in the market for a new torii, if it decided to commission one for itself.

Shrine information
Jintoku Inari Shrine / 神徳稲荷神社
Address: Kagoshima-ken, Kanoya-shi, Shineicho 1771-4
鹿児島県鹿屋市新栄町1771-4

Source: Twitter/@DJ_HARABO via Jin, Kagoshima Gourmet Tabearuki and Susume Spot, Togetter
Top image: Pakutaso

Follow Casey on Twitter, where it’s impossible for him to look at pictures of shrines without his wanderlust rising.