7 June 2016
Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine is one of the “must see” place for visitors to Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates that lined the hiking trail behind the main buildings leading up to the summit of Mount Inari. The row of brightly coloured, inline torii gates is awesome, unique and made this a “must shoot” location for photographers.
It was convenient to include a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine on the same day that we visited Uji from Kyoto. The nearest JR station to the shrine is the Inari Station. Only the local trains made a stop at this station so we had to be careful not to take the rapid express train from Uji.
The path that led to the shrine was just to our left once we exit the station. Many visitors wore yukatas and most were tourists! Banners indicating that Fushimi Inari Shrine was voted “Most Popular Traveller’s Choice” by Tripadvisor lined the path.
A pair of fierce looking foxes or kitsune guarded the doorway to the main shrine. Inari is the Shinto god of rice or grain. In Japanese culture, rice or grain translates to wealth and hence Inari can be considered as a Shinto god of wealth. The foxes were supposed to be Inari’s messengers. The fox on the left held what looked like a key and the one on the right held a ball. The key is supposed to the key to granaries or keys to wealth!
The smooth stone steps that led us from the main building to the start of the torii gates were quite slippery from the rain that fell earlier and we saw a few yukata-clad visitors slipping and falling due to their wooden clogs and/or slippers.
Visitors can buy small torii gates to write their wishes and hang them at the side of the main shrine.
More statues of Inari’s foxes can be found all round the premises.
Beautiful green maple leaves complement the vermilion colours of the torii gates and shrine. They should be equally stunning in autumn.
The inner oratory hall or nai-haiden is behind the main shrine. Worshippers would ask Inari for what they need, throw some yen into the wooden collection box to thank the god for hearing their prayers.
The start of the trail and Senbon Torii (Thousands of Torii) starts after the inner oratory hall. The trail led to the summit of Mount Inari, about 233 m high.
There was a map showing the layout of the trails and giving us an idea of the size and layout of this place. To get to the summit and return would take a couple of hours and it was already 5 PM when we got to this point. We had no plans to walk all the way to the summit on this day but walking up this trail to see the thousands of torii gates is a must!
The individual torii were donated by individuals and companies hoping to remain wealthy and get ahead in business. Most of the toriis looked fairly new and well maintained as they were replaced every 10 years although a few gates with rotting wood were also seen. The gates were painted bright vermilion colour with black kanji lettering on each torii indicating the name of the donating individual or company.
Even at this hour, there were loads of visitors. It requires lots of patience and some luck to get the impressive “postcard” shot of the rows of torii gate without any persons in the picture.
The number of people got fewer and fewer as we ascended the trail and also as the sun sets.
Along the trail, there were smaller shrines where we could make a pit-stop to rest and take some pictures of interesting displays.
About midway up, we came to a pond and several food stalls that were already closed. This was probably near the midpoint of the trail to the summit.
We decided that this would be the furthest we would go on this day as it was getting dark. Maybe, we would try for the summit if we visit again in the future.
We saw a sign indicating the cost of putting up a torii gate. It depends on the size of the gate and ranges from a few hundred thousand yen to over a million yen. Not cheap!
The surrounding forest got darker with the setting sun and soon it was not ideal for photos. This place could be visited at night, as lamps would light the path.
We took a different trail that provided a short-cut through the forest back to the main shrine. More messenger foxes were seen as we approached the main shrine.
We went to explore the street in front of the shrine where they were supposed to be food stalls but most were already packing up to leave. It was already 6 PM.
From the Fushimi Inari Shrine, the best place to grab dinner is at the Kyoto Station, a short train ride way.
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