A is a fence surrounding a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The ''honden''Also called (本殿, meanin ...

, a sacred area or an imperial palace. Believed to have been initially just a brushwood barrier of trees, ''tamagaki'' have since been made of a variety of materials including wood, stone and—in recent years—concrete. Depending on the material and technique utilized, such fences have a variety of names: * made of roughly finished thick boards, * made of unpeeled or unstripped boards or logs, *, * and , *, * made of vertically set thin strips of bamboo or wood, * The simple fences of ancient and medieval times became more elaborate in pre-modern Japan with the addition of roofs,

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...

and grilles between posts. An example is the 1636 around the main sanctuary of Nikkō Tōshō-gū. If the enclosed area is surrounded by multiple fences, generally the innermost one is called . The of

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie, Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . ...

is surrounded by four fences. From outside to inside these are: , outer and inner ''tamagaki'' and ''mizugaki''. At Ise these fences separate areas for worshipers of different status. All visitors are allowed to pass a gate through the outermost ''itagaki'' fence, while traditionally only members of the imperial family were allowed to pass through the second fence, the outer ''tamagaki''. Today this privilege has been extended to elected representatives. Local mayors and members of assemblies worship at the inner eaves of the outer ''tamagaki'', representatives of prefectural governments, officials of Ise Shrine and Living National Treasures stand halfway between the outer and inner ''tamagaki''. The

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, members of both chambers of the

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

, and other senior elected officials are allowed to the point just outside the gateway to the inner ''tamagaki''. Entrance to the inner ''tamagaki'' is limited to members of the imperial family and only the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

and the

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

are generally allowed to enter through the innermost ''mizugaki'' fence.An exception is made for the crown prince and princess who, on the occasion of their marriage, can enter the area enclosed by the ''mizugaki''. The ''tamagaki'' and the traditional ''

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simple ...

'' gate are sometimes replaced by a covered corridor called ''

kairō Two examples of ''kairō'' , , is the Japanese version of a cloister, a covered corridor originally built around the most sacred area of a Buddhist temple, a zone which contained the '' kondō'' and the ''tō''. Nowadays it can be found also ...

'' and a ''

rōmon The is one of two types of two-storied gate used in Japan (the other one being the '' nijūmon'', see photo in the gallery below). Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and S ...

'' gate. Originally Buddhist, neither was initially typical of shrines, but in time they often came to play the role of the more traditional ''tamagaki''. A famous example is Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū in Kyoto prefecture. This phenomenon was partly caused by the strong influence of Buddhism on ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' worship due to the

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...

fusion of Buddhism and local religion ( shinbutsu shūgō).

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{{Shinto shrine Architecture in Japan Fences Shinto architecture

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