Salt: A Gateway Mineral

Which is exactly as it seems. A doorway offering. 

I have constantly asked what this was time and again over my nearly year and a half here and have gotten various answers.
"It is a salt lick for horses back when we used them and people still keep it out in remembrance"
"It is actually their table salt. You have to come out here to use it"
"When you work out, you use both your and the airs' electrolytes and we put this out here to replenish the airs' electrolytes. We don't want the air to taste bad for other people."
"It is for you, so you can replenish your electrolytes after running. We are very nice people"

Perhaps I should just know better than to continuously asking the same person. The same person who told me that  the decorative sample meals or fruits and vegetables outside of restaurants are actually free and that they were for the homeless or for us to take home. Because you see, their restaurant had such superior quality produce, they wanted us to try it and see how amazing it was and come back and eat at their restaurant because of their exemplar quality of foods.
So, don't believe that one either.

Salt has an important significance in Japan, it is an offering of sorts to gods and people and has a meaning of purification and cleanliness, as well as to keep away ill luck. You know things like witches and zombies and stuff. Place yourself in a doorway guarded by salt and the oni cannot enter. Ok, but seriously, these salt piles are called morishio, 盛り塩, meaning pile of salt in a very literal sense. Back in the day, salt was an important commodity; it was a well cherished import noted for its importance in keeping fish and meats from rotting and also valued in a spiritual manner as well. It was so pure and white and pretty, it began to be used for religious purposes as well. Probably the most notable today is the use of it at funerals where you will sprinkle it on you before the funeral and throw it at the door as you leave in order to purify yourself from death. A bit resembling the way one would throw beans at the oni during Setsubon.
But even more commonly, you will find it outside of doorways and in gardens and other unusual places. When placed outside of doorways, it is typically in two little dishes on either side of the door, in what are often described as little cone shaped mounds. But the reality of that statement is that there is just salt in a dish, typically in a semblance of a mound. The cones are reserved for the more influential of restaurants and are smashed once a customer has entered the establishment to signify to others that the business is prosperous at that time. In most cases though, these mounds are hand formed by the shop owners and are placed on the outside for a symbol of purification and that their shop is clean. It is an old business model that is still used almost as a token of good luck in attracting customers. It also symbolizes that the restaurant is traditional and is in keeping with some of the more customary Japanese practices. In fact, before placing salt outside of their doorway, most companies and businesses will wash the road and sidewalk in their vicinity with water and salt, or at least water. I actually see this practice every morning, a little old woman with a bent back is up at the crack of dawn watering her street corner as I ride my bike to the station. My Japanese friends have told me that is what they do when they first get to work to open their business as well. They say that it is to 'clean up', so I am mot really sure if the welcoming good business aspect of it applies to that or not, but I assume if you are 'cleaning up' to look respectable for potential customers, that clause is also grandfathered in.
In other practices, for anyone who might ever see a sumo match, the wrestlers will throw salt in the ring to purify the ring and keep evil out. I am not really sure why that is. I am not sure if sumo is a holy sport or if they feel vulnerable without their salt, but it is now a tradition and no match it complete without it.