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'If the gates opened on nothing at all, like triumphal arches, I should still love them – quaint, intriguing, human notes that they give to the little Japanese landscape inside. They seem so insouciant and inviting, and, though they have their hard and fast regulations governing them, so individual and personal.
The roofs, with their upturned corners, beautiful tiles, and lovely curves, are almost the nicest things to be seen in the Celestial Empire; so, when a Japanese builds an imposing gateway, as he does for his temples, palaces, and important grounds and gardens, he usually puts a roof over it embodying these features.'
Japanese Gardens, pages 63 and 65