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| Fushimi Inari Shrine |
Here's the map of Kyoto with today's points of interest. I planned our sightseeing based on my own research and on a Japanese friend's recommendations.
We started off the day by going to Fushimi Inari Taisha is the principle Inari shrine in Japan. Inari is the Shinto god of agriculture (very specifically rice) and business. Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousands and thousands and thousands of torii gates. I can't find an exact number, and no one probably knows for sure, but there are over 10,000 torii gates at this shrine. This shrine is sometimes referred to as 1,000 Torii Gate Shrine. Torii gates spanning the hiking trail are erected for donations by individuals and companies that vary from ¥400,000 to ¥1,000,000+ (that's $4,000-10,000+). Not sure how old this shrine is, but it existed before Kyoto became Japan's capital in 794.
The main hall can be seen from the Inari Station exit. From there we just followed the gates (and the crowds) up the mountain.
We had the subway/bus passes that I mentioned in a previous post so we utilized the subway to Kyoto Station and then paid for the train to JR Inari Station.
There is no charge to visit this shrine and it is always open.
http://inari.jp/
GPS coordinates: 34.968002, 135.772715
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| Yes we did eat our vegetables in the Natural ideal style at breakfast! |
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| Romon Gate, donated in 1589. |
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| Main Hall. |
This place really was beautiful. It was very crowded for the first part of the hike, but after, that at times it was just us. When away from the crowds it was peaceful even at the pace we were moving. Below is a view of Kyoto from a lookout point, this is where a majority of people turn back. We continued up the trails to the top of Mt Inari (elevation 233 meters). I read it takes an average of 30-45 minutes hiking to get to the lookout point and a total of 2-3 hours to hike to the summit and back. It took us around 25 minutes to the lookout and another 25 minutes to the top, just under 90 minutes total for the entire hike, all the while taking a zillion pictures. We definitely were moving quickly, we wanted to get done before it got scorching hot out (it was hot regardless) and to try avoiding some of the crowds that would show up later.
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| Top of Mt Inari! |
After our hike we headed for Kyoto Station to cool off, grab lunch and hop on a bus to the Golden Pavilion! Check out Gold, Rocks & Bamboo (It's a Trip Part 3.1) & Gyoza, Tonkatsu, Foods on Sticks & Beer (It's a Trip Part 3.2) for the rest of today's adventures!
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