A Different Take on The Gates

A Different Take on The Gates

We went up to Central Park today to see The Gates.  We thought it was ok, but boy was it a madhouse up there. 

Anyway, we were struck at some angles by the similarity between the gates of the gates, and one of the most famous gates in the world which we saw on our trip through Asia last year:  the O-torii.

The O-torrii is one of the most recognizable images of Japan.  It is a 53 foot high vermilion gate rising out of the sea in front of the Itsukushima Jinja shrine on the island of Miyajima, off the coast of Hiroshima.  It was built out of trunks of local camphor trees in 1875.  Due to its location, it was one of the few landmark structures we saw in Asia that hadn’t burnt to the ground at least once or twice.

Check this out – perhaps it’s not entirely coincidental?