Now that I'm living in Osaka the opportunities to visit, travel and sightsee in new places are endless! With that being said I recently took hold of said opportunity and went to Kyoto's number 2 top tourist spot, Fushimi Inari-Taisha with my Aunt who had come for a short visit!
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| The First Shrine |
Before my Aunt arrived I had promised to take her to Kyoto and wanted to show her somewhere that demonstrated the spectacular
tradition and culture of Japan. And boy did I make the right choice with Fushimi Inari Taisha! Situated in the Southern part of Kyoto, the shrine,which is dedicated to the God of rice and sake (yes to a dedication to alcohol lol), begins with one Giant Torii gate at the base of Mount Inari with thousands more torii that lead to the sacred peak of the mountain!
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| 1000 Origami Cranes |
After entering through the big Torii gate, we were greeted with the first shrine (there are 5 in total spread along the mountain)! At this first shrine we were lucky enough to see the beautifully colourful and intricate 千羽鶴(1000 origami cranes), a tradition that says anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes is granted a wish by the Gods! After we had finished wandering around the first shrine grounds we began the ascent up the mountain through the endless Torii!
The ascent begins with several large red Torii gates through which you can see the many millions of Torii to follow. At the start the climb was easy enough, it was at a slow gradient and not so steep. The closer we got to the top however the steeper it got and the more stairs we had to climb! The Torii also became less spaced out, smaller and more compact, creating a sense of containment rent locking the rest of the world out, but also a feeling of spirituality.
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| At one of the shrines.. ft a Kitsune Statue |
On our way up we encountered some of the other shrines and we saw many statues of kitsune (foxes) dotted around. It's said that the fox is the messenger of the God of grain, something I was not aware of at the time of the visit but now makes a lot of sense to me since some statues appeared to be holding scrolls! We also saw some old graves, which were both interesting and eery!
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| View of Kyoto! |
After some strenuous uphill walking we made it to the Yotsutsugi intersection (halfway point) where you can see spectacular views of Kyoto. This was a great place to catch our breath, relax and enjoy the scenery! We continued up for another 20 minutes of Torii and encountered another shrine where we met two stray cats (which I of course tried to approach lol). Thanks to the impending nightfall and a lack of timing we had to end our climb here and so it was at this point that we began our descent from Mt Inari!
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| The Entrance Shrine lit up at night |
Although we were unable to make it to the top it was still a breathtaking experience! We enjoyed the scenery, the nature and climbing up through the vast amount of Torii.
A truly amazing experience!!
The ascent begins with several large red Torii gates through which you can see the many millions of Torii to follow. At the start the climb was easy enough, it was at a slow gradient and not so steep. The closer we got to the top however the steeper it got and the more stairs we had to climb! The Torii also became less spaced out, smaller and more compact, creating a sense of containment rent locking the rest of the world out, but also a feeling of spirituality.
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