Unzen Onsen Town Religious History Trail: A Single Torii Post 雲仙温泉歴史探訪コース：片足鳥居

Official explanation

Standing here is one half of a torii gate; the other post and the crossbeams have been lost to time. This site once marked the entrance to the sacred part of the Unzen volcano cluster. Women could enter the sacred mountains of Unzen, until an increase of volcanic activity in the middle of the Edo period (1603–1867). The presence of women was blamed for angering the gods of the mountain, and they were banned from traveling past this torii. The plaque next to the stone post would have originally hung from the crossbeams. It reads, “Oshimen Oshimensha,” indicating that this was the first torii in a line of torii going all the way to Shimengū Shrine. Shimengū enshrines the deities known as the Oshimen, who, according to legend, were instrumental in protecting Japan from the invasions of Kublai Khan (1215–1294) in the late 1200s.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.