page_title: Wakamiya Ōji
section_title: Ichi no Torii
hierarchical_section_title: Wakamiya Ōji / History / The remains of Hama no Ōtorii / Ichi no Torii
caption_attribution_description: English: Tsurugaoka Hachimangu. Ichi no Torii. The right pillar was damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1922. It's broken in three parts. 日本語: 鶴岡八幡宮 一の鳥居
context_page_description: Wakamiya Ōji is a 1.8 km street in Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, unusual because it is at the same time the city's main avenue and the approach of its largest Shinto shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. Over the centuries Wakamiya Ōji has gone thorough an extreme change. A heavily trafficked road today, it used to be, to the contrary, off limits to most people as a sacred space. At the time of the Kamakura shogunate it was an essential part of the city's religious life, and as such it hosted many ceremonies and was rich with symbolism. Since its construction Wakamiya Ōji has been the backbone of the city's street planning and the center of its cultural life. The street has been declared a Historic Site and was chosen as one of the best 100 streets in Japan.
context_section_description: As already mentioned, we know that this Ichi no Torii was for most of Kamakura's history called Hama no Ōtorii, and that it is only the last of a long series. A bronze plaque (visible in the photo) on it describes its history
  Ichi no Torii
  
  This Great Torii is also called Ichi no Torii. Its construction was started by Minamoto no Yoritomo in December 1180 and finished in 1182 together with the dankazura by his wife Hōjō Masako, bringing the magnificent Wakamiya Ōji to completion.
  It was later repaired several times by the shogunate. In 1668, Tokugawa Ietsuna, on his grandmother Suugen'in's request, used Mikage stone from the island of Inushima near Bizen to rebuild not only this torii, but also Ni no Torii and San no Torii. This Great Torii was considered a magnificent example of stone torii, so in August 1904 was declared a National Treasure. Save for the lower part of its two pillars, it was seriously damaged during the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. The Ministry of Education immediately made plans for its reconstruction, and in 1934 the project was entrusted to Sakatani Ryōnoshin and Oka Hiroshi, who in a short time planned the necessary repairs. In March 1936, work was started with the financial help of the National Treasury, of Mr. Ueda Chita and Mr. Kanda Saburo, and finished in August of the same year. The job was entrusted to the direction of Nakarai Kiyoshi, governor of Kanagawa, who in respect of tradition reused as much as possible the old parts, and requested the necessary stone replacements from Inushima. In addition to obtaining the seven stone pieces from the original source, he was careful to preserve the general look of the monument.
caption: Ichi no Torii in Yuigahama. Clearly visible the damage sustained during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
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