Kyoto, Japan 2014: Fushimi Inari Taisha Pt 3

As much as I would like to say that “I am back”, I couldn’t, at least not entirely, since I think I left part of my soul (and heart, I kid you not) in South Korea. 5 and a half days are barely enough to get my fill of SoKor, and I hope to go back to explore more of it. I’ve soooo many stories (and photos!) to share, but I resolve not to do that until I have finished my Japan travel diaries. And this is the last in my three-parter on Fushimi Inari Taisha.

(If you haven’t checked them yet, here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of my visit to this beautiful shrine.)

It pays to be a bit early when visiting this place, because it means there’s less crowd, which means more opportunities to take photos in between the pillars-slash-gates without a lot of photobombers. 🙂

Many of you will remember this area from the film Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also one of the settings of Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai. If I’m not mistaken, both films had the commanding Watanabe Ken-san.

So, while walking, we also came across many cats (aka neko-chan), with some of the Shrine staff feeding them. I’d say they are relatively attuned to strangers, because they were not entirely aloof.

If you are easily distracted, you may also find yourself veering off the path and going up short forks and stone steps that lead to smaller shrines that have fox altars on them.

And while many may be getting “fed up” with these gates, I was lapping it all up. My travel buddy was already waaaaaaaay ahead of me, and had to stop several times to let me catch up, haha!

Although many do not really appreciate becoming overwhelmed, there is the good kind of being overwhelmed and, for me, this is one of them. I love how, no matter where I look, there is something worth seeing. Like, you look down and out of the trail, and you’ll spot more torii gates and trees around you.

Check out this fox fountain. Yes, as I told you in my earlier posts, foxes or kitsune are a recurring theme and figure when you are visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha. The water flowing from the bamboo spout stuck in its mouth is reportedly safe for drinking, by the way.

By this time, we’ve made a circuit, and so we’re back at the Yotsutsuji intersection, with the view of Kyoto in front of us. We already saw several hikers making a rest stop in the intersection and, according to some readings, many stop at this area and turn back instead of completing the circuit. I say to that, “what a complete waste”.

Going down, we followed another path, one that allowed us to walk past several shrines dedicated to lesser gods. I don’t know more than half of them, though, but they still looked to serene and captivating. Like these statues of mothers holding their infant children. I wish I knew who they are supposed to represent. Anyone know?

And we also stumbled upon the Hachirei Shrine, where Uganomitamanomikoto is enshrined. We again passed by another still pond before finally arriving back at the area where we entered the senbon torii area. As you can see from the photo below, more and more people are coming in. This was already close to 11am.As we were walking back to the station, we spotted this lady standing vigil by the road.

We’d have probably hung around much longer and taken our time hiking through the trails, but we had to be at Nagoya at mid-afternoon, so we had to quicken our steps a bit.

Fushimi Inari Taisha may be out of the way for some, but make sure you include it in your Kyoto itinerary when you come here, especially if (a) you love stuff like these and, more importantly, (b) you don’t mind walking and hiking. If it were up to me, I would definitely return here when I find myself in Kyoto again in the future.