Michelin
Yomei-mon Gate at Tosho-gu
Location picture
The Green Guide
The Michelin Guide's review
The magnificent 11m-high "Sunlight Gate" bears 508 sculptures, a fantastic bestiary of Chinese unicorns and Japanese dragons. The portal is supported by 12 white columns carved with scroll motifs; on the left pillar in front of the door the scrolls are the other way around, in a deliberate gesture on the part of the artists to indicate to the gods that they could not be their rivals. Also, in a medallion in one of the central columns, admire the wooden tiger motifs. Under the door, two dragons, by the famous artist Kano Tanyu, stalk across the ceiling.
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