In Shinto religion before praying you need to purify yourself. The first step is buying incense to burn in a big pot in front of the temple. Then purify yourself with the smoke produced by that.. almost like taking a shower of smoke.

Nowadays the most of Japanese people are not very religious and they go to the temple for praying very few times during the year.. perhaps just once at the last day of the year. The most common religions are the Shinto and the Buddhism that are actually quite similar.

The Fushimiinari taisha Shrine is a famous and important Shinto shrine in the beautiful Kyoto city. Those you see are all Torii, sacred portals. In this big temple in the hills there are long avenues that pass through a dense construction of these sacred monuments; avenues that lead to several Shrine temples or places of prayer for many believers.

What you see is called the gate of heaven or Torii. In Japan it is present in many places and temples .. is a key monument of this religion called Shinto, and is like a portal for access to a sacred area. Before passing through you should bow (practice used not as often... I have seen few people bow).