My niece starts school (as a teacher) this week, and she has been tasked with teaching the language to some students this fall. Funny thing is, she just learned the very basics of the language just 6 months ago on a study abroad!
Anyway, I wanted to make her a little desktop Torii gate, but I cannot find a file that looks legit out in the wild. The one I did find on Etsy looks sketchy (final product does not even look like a laser cut model).
Does anyone have any good sources for some files?
I imagine the pattern is fine, but yeah that final product has had a lot of painting and sanding done to it!
Hey @CMadok, any ideas?
I’ve only ever see those types of torii gates in the water. Will it be a desktop pond? Since most gates have round logs or cement pillars, I’d say finding a laser cut pattern that looks like the real deal might be hard. But the horizontal beams I’ve seen cut rectangular logs, so at least the top portion would be easy to replicate.
Anyways, there are many types of torii gates. I’d go with one that doesn’t look like it’s normally placed in water unless that’s what you’re going for. You can always use dowels, or add paper clay to the pillars to make them round and paint the entire thing red if you want realistic. But I think these look good (I have never bought from these sites, I just did a quick image search):
The Etsy one reminds me of this, the great Torii in Miyajima.
Not everything is best suited to laser cutting. A silhouette of one would be easier and better-suited.
Yes, I think it’s supposed to be the gates at Miyajima. I stand corrected, though, about these gates only being in water. I thought I’ve only ever seen them in the water, but I looked up one of the shrines I went to at Lake Biwa, and saw the land entrance of the shrine also has the same style gate. It’s called Shirahige Shrine Torii 白鬚神社 ćą–ä¸ĺ¤§éłĄĺ±….
Somewhere in my endless digital photo collection, we’ve got pictures, but Google maps photos work just as well in a pinch.
My understanding is that in Japanese Buddhism, they serve as a gate between secular and spiritual realms. The vermillion is meant to ward off evil. Of course, you would know better than me! 
In Spirited Away, Chihiro and her parents pass an old one leaning against a tree as they unwittingly make that transition.
I always thought the bridge symbolized it more, but no matter.
The bridge is Buddhist. The gate you shared from Spirited Away is Shinto. I believe the gate from the original post is a combination of the two, in that time period where they started to blend here in Japan. And it is the entryway into the divine realm. That’s why you shouldn’t walk in the center of the path; that’s where the gods walk. I didn’t study any of this so I’m not an expert in any form, I’m only relaying what i was taught; so anyone is free to fact check me. 
Scrolling through some of the photos I took on my phone, I found that alot of the Buddhist temples I went to also have Shinto shrines on the premises.
But here is a picture of a bridge at the temple I went to outside Osaka. We were traveling with our dog.
And here are some random photos of local shrines from our neighborhood. Temples are usually big enough that monks and whatnot can go in and worship, but shrines can be super small because they house gods.
Very cool.. 
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