Meoto Iwa

Category

Library Item

Item no

16569

Title

Meoto Iwa

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1912

Size

9.0 x 14.0 cm

Type

Photograph; Postcard

Location

Art and Design Library

'Meoto' means husband & wife in Japanese, and 'iwa' is a rock in Japanese. This is one of the famous landscapes in Japan. These rocks are located in the sea of Mie prefecture. The bigger one is thought of as a male and the smaller one as female. These rocks are joined by shimenawa (a sacred straw festoon in Shinto) and are considered as a gate of the Futamiokitama shrine. Meoto iwa performs the same function as a torii, separating sacred and secular space, its location in the sea relating to the belief that Sarutahiko (one of the male Shinto gods) lives in the sea.

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Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Rocks

Landscape > Water > Seas

Places > Asia > Japan

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