Sanmon

A sanmon is the principal gate of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, one of the buildings that make up the temple shichido garan, its seven halls. A first rank temple sanmon is typically a two story gate five bays wide with three entrances, while lesser temples build smaller versions with a single entrance, so the size of a temple sanmon signals its standing within the Zen hierarchy. The gate stands between the outer gate and the main hall and its three passages represent the three liberations on the path to enlightenment; it is built with no doors, since it is meant to stand permanently open as a symbolic threshold between the secular world and the sacred precinct rather than to serve any practical defensive purpose.

A sanmon (三門 or 山門) or sangedatsumon (三解脱門; lit. "gate of the three liberations") is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen shichidō garan, the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple. It can be often found in temples of other denominations too. Most sanmon are 2- or 3-bay nijūmon (a type of two-storied gate), but the name by itsel