Summer diaries Part 4.5: Fushimi Inari-taisha

This is my last day in Kyoto and tomorrow I am traveling to Tokyo starting the fifth chapter of my summer diaries. One of the very impressive shrines here in Kyoto is the Fushimi Inari-taisha that you should not miss. Thus, despite the less than optimal conditions I went there today and was not disappointed.

In order to reach the inner shrine you have to travel up a path that is made up of thousands of torii (the orange gates). Each one of them has something written on them. Another very distinctive thing that you cannot miss is the foxes that you will find all over the place. As the shrine has been depicted in every possible way I decided to go for something different… leading to the picture from above. You can see that I was not the only one enjoying this slice of history.

Here is what wikipedia has to say.

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社^?) is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres above sea-level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines.

Since in early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business. First and foremost though, Inari is the god of rice.

Merchants and manufacturers worship Inari for wealth. Donated torii lining footpaths are part of the scenic view.

This popular shrine is said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines (bunsha (分社^?)) throughout Japan.^[1]

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Foxes (kitsune), regarded as the messengers, are often found in Inari shrines. One attribute is a key (for the rice granary) in their mouths.

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The shrine draws several million worshipers over the Japanese New Year, 2.69 million for 3 days in 2006 reported by the police, the most in western Japan.