The design on the beautiful Miyako Cigarette pack seems to picture an abstract of a torii gate. Torii Gates are the traditional entrance to Shinto shrines in Japan. The reddish color of the torii is actually vermilion, a color that is believed to keep evil spirits away. Vermilion was originally made from pulverized cinnabar, which comes from quicksilver mines. The inorganic red/orange cinnabar is a chemical compound made up of mercury and sulfur atoms. Mercury is harmful to your health and sulfur can smell bad. Perhaps this is the reason vermilion keeps those pesky bad spirits from entering through the torii. Miyako Cigarettes were probably named after the famous Miyako Hotel resort that overlooks the city of Kyoto. However, there is the Japanese island of Miyako, which is really a group of eight small islands south of Okinawa, and the city of Miyako, on the main Japanese island of Honshu. These slim king size cigarettes were made under license of Japan Tobacco Corp. (Tokyo) in Richmond, Virginia by Philip Morris. A small amount of Japanese tobacco was used in the blend. Miyako's Seattle test market, which began October 1974, failed, and the brand withdrawn.