On one approach road, the houses change shape halfway along. Toriimoto follows the pilgrimage route toward Atago Shrine, with the first torii standing at the top of the slope. The upper part of the street is thatched farmhouses; the lower part is tiled townhouses; and the change from one to the other happens partway up, on a single continuous road with a single name.

The explanation offered is straightforward. The lower stretch, where most pilgrims passed, developed as a commercial street, while the upper stretch kept the form of a mountain hamlet — the boundary between them marking how far up the trade found it worth going. Toriimoto was designated an Important Preservation District in May 1979, and the designation covers both halves of the street rather than treating the thatched section as the valuable one. Arashiyama is within walking distance, central Kyoto is a little under thirty minutes by train, and the volume of visitors means the quiet hours here are confined to early morning.

An approach road generally becomes more village-like the higher you climb it. Commerce collects near the bottom, where the traffic is thickest, and gives way to ordinary houses further up; that gradient exists on most pilgrimage roads and is usually invisible, buried in details of use. What makes Toriimoto worth the walk is that the gradient here is expressed in roofing material rather than in anything subtle. You can see the economic boundary from fifty metres away, from either direction, because that is the point at which the thatch begins and the tiles stop.