伏見稲荷大社 – Fushimi Inari Taisha

With its thousands of bright red gates, Fushimi Inari Taisha is easily my favorite Shinto shrine.  Its history predates the city of Kyoto itself, and of all the shrines dedicated to Inari which number in the thousands, it is the most important.  Inari is the Shinto for rice or the harvesting of rice, and foxes are believed to be this ‘s messengers.  As a result, foxes are a very popular motif for Inari shrines, and Fushimi Inari Taisha is no exception.

We went at dusk, which I have seen years before, but unlike before, it appears the shrine grounds had prepared a night illumination of sorts so it was still pretty easy to see everything.  The gates line the hiking trails that lead visitors deep into the sacred mountain Inari.  If the map is anything to go by, it looks to be a very long way.  I have yet to go through all the way to the end of the trail, but someday I will.

In any case, the red of the gates really shined under the lantern light, and cast beautiful shadows on the ground as we walked.  If we hadn’t been starving and getting cold, we would have stayed longer to take in more.

Vital Information:

• Always Open

• No Closing Days

• Free Admission

• Not Very English Friendly

• 2 minute walk from JR Inari Station on the JR Nara Line.