EXERCISE: A Torii

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 01:33:42 -0500

All over Japan, you find torii.  Big ornate ones, small simple ones, they dot the landscape.  Sometimes in cascades, sometimes solitary.

So what is a torii?

Physically, it's an arch.  Typically two poles, with a capping pole across the top.  Most often painted red, and usually built with square timbers, the top one slightly longer than needed so that it extends past the uprights on each side.  Probably the simplest structure possible.

Metaphysically, it's a marker.  Someone standing here saw something that enlightened (or delighted?) them.  And they built a torii to mark the place.

So when you see a torii, it is worthwhile to walk over and stand underneath, looking to see what caught someone's attention enough to build a torii here.

I've also learned to look both ways, because it isn't always clear which direction the view is.  I.e., when you are walking on a path, and someone has erected a torii to mark their point of insight, sometimes you need to turn around to see what they were looking at.

In your writing (or perhaps your reading), you may want to put up a torii from time to time.  Mark out something that really seems to work, or that gives you a little extra insight.

Actually, let's suppose you are walking down the path (of life?  of writing? or just out there in the world...) and you see something that makes you want to put up a torii to mark this place for other people to stop and look.

What is that view?  Why does it ring for you?

Take a few words (500 or so?) and write up the view.  Show it to us so vividly that we feel the insight you got.

And that's your torii!