| Hi everyone! This is Dr. Kaitlyn Ugoretz, the creator of the map. I had no idea folks were talking about it here until someone just sent me the link. This is an early work-in-progress for my second book project. I created it to test a theory and never expected to find so many torii, but now it’s kind of addictive. Gotta catch ‘em all! Most of them I find myself through social media research, but many ppl have been kind to help me crowdsource info. A couple of responses to the most common comments so far: 1. Thanks for your interest! This is a rly niche area of research, so it’s lovely to know people are engaging with it. 2. I’m sorry about the annoying icons carrying over—I had no idea this was an issue. I’ll try to find a way to fix it if I can. The first link I shared was not a proper share link, just something I grabbed off my phone last minute and pasted on Bluesky. 3. I only include torii on private property with the express permission of the people who live there/own it. I don’t want strangers using my mapping project to creep on unsuspecting people’s houses. That being said, if anyone would like to volunteer their torii, I am happy to add them. 4. In the future (aka when I finish my first book and move on to the second full-time, hopefully with some funding), I’ll be moving the map data to an open access platform. 5. Anyone is welcome to get in contact with me through my website! I will probably lose my current institutional email address soon since I finished my degree, but I will keep the website link updated with my contact info. www.ugoretzresearch.org/contact 6. If you are interested in learning more about torii gates, I’ve been posting threads under #ToriiTuesday on Twitter/X (but not anymore) and Bluesky (current) almost every week for over a year now. 7. Some gates that appear similar to torii are actually a separate category of gate called “mon” in Japan that are based on continental (Chinese & Korean) gate architecture. For example, the mon gate at the Portland Japanese Gardens (doubly confusing bc they have a curator whose surname is Torii!). My policy is not to include mon unless they are identified as torii by the people who built them. 8. Last one, promise. I include both torii that are extant (still there) and historical (used to be there). Some are ephemeral, like festivals and conventions, and some last for a long time. I hope to capture them all. :) |
You'll also (maybe) find torii in Eastern Afghanistan, that is if the locals left them up.