Keywords
Architecture
General Terms
Lit. outer garden. The area outside the sacred enclosure of a shrine, mausoleum, or temple. Typically, the approach to the inner shrine is through the gaien which serves as a transitional space between secular and sacred realms. Although often planted with trees to create a sacred forest reminiscent of a grove deep in the mountains, in recent years the gaien of large urban shrines have been developed into parks. Meiji Jingū 明治神宮 in Tokyo is a good example.