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:<p>1. Thanks for your interest! This is a rly niche area of research, so it’s lovely to know people are engaging with it.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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<p>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.<p>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.<p>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. :)