The shrine gate — the object, not the idea.

What a Japanese person actually thinks
Reads as a noun on a label. The threshold symbolism English speakers attach to it isn't carried by the word — Japanese people just see the physical gate, the way you'd see 'DOOR'.

Meaning

Literally: bird + dwelling
Actually: The gate marking the boundary of a Shinto shrine. Beyond it, you're in sacred ground.

Scores

Naturalness●●●●●

Correct word.

Coolness●●●●●

The gate is a magnificent thing to *draw*. Writing its name is a much weaker move.

Watch out

lowIf the threshold-between-worlds meaning is the appeal, an image carries it and the word doesn't.

Get this instead

結界 kekkai
a warded boundary; the line between sacred and ordinary

The *concept* the torii marks, as a real word. Far more interesting than naming the gate.

On skin

鳥居

Orientation: either

Brush.