While there are many famous large shrines in Japan that stand out as major emblems of their respective regions, some of the smaller more local shrines can be just as fascinating as they can sometimes seem to pop up out of nowhere.

At night, that can also be a bit of a jarring sight. Japanese Twitter user @yuruhuwa_kdenpa recently felt the same when they were taking a nighttime stroll, and stumbled upon a scene that made them feel as if they were looking at the entrance to another world.

@yuruhuwa_kdenpa shared a photo of a shrine's torii gate, illuminated by a red light traffic signal at a crosswalk late at night. As the shrine entrance seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the street, @yuruhuwa_kdenpa posted the photo saying "I thought it was the entrance to another world..." and it appears they had good reason for such a mysterious feeling.

The shrine in question is Tomorogi Shrine in Osaka. While there's nothing quite that scary about a torii gate, the photo @yuruhuwa_kdenpa shared of stumbling upon one at midnight in the middle of a street and seeing the darkened road it leads down toward was compared to a scene out of a horror game by several in the comments. The sudden gate definitely looks as if it leads away into another world far away from the city.

@yuruhuwa_kdenpa ventured past the gate and into the actual shrine. As it was midnight, the grounds were empty and they say it felt even more as if they had been spirited away to another world.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.