A day in Kyōto: Fushimi Inari-taisha
- Kyoto, Japan
- Apr 18, 2015
- 4 min read
When I knew I would go to Kyōto, there was only one thing on my list that I really wanted to see. The rest of the day, I would just see what I came across. I had heard so much about Kyōto, that I was quite sure it didn’t really matter where I’d go: I would see interesting stuff anyway. But the one thing that I really wanted to see, was 伏見稲荷大社 [ふしみいなりたいしゃ: Fushimi Inari-taisha]. So that’s where I was headed first!
Fushimi Inari-taisha is a giant temple on a mountain in the middle of the city. It’s very easy to reach by train – or so it would be, if I had taken the right train straight away. But that’s a whole different story. Anyway, the temple is dedicated to the Shintō god Inari, officially the god of rice. Through the ages however, he kind of evolved into the god of business. And that’s exactly what makes Fushimi Inari-taisha so interesting! Because Inari is the god of business, many companies make offers to him at this shrine. They do that in the form of donating a so-called 鳥居 [とりい: torii]: a red gate that is usually found at the entrance of a Shintō shrine. Going through such a gate means you’re entering the divine world. To me, torii are the face of Japan. I’m completely in love with them – if I don’t see them, I can’t feel like I’m really in the land of the rising sun! Luckily for me, shrines are on every corner of every street, and a shrine always has torii. Some small ones have one, others have multiple. But this specific shrine is known for the massive amount of the gates. Fushimi Inari-taisha has so many torii that there is said to be an entire tunnel of the things. If that doesn’t help you enter the divine world, I don’t know what will!
When I entered the grounds, I was quite impressed by the size. Little did I know, that I was only seeing a fraction of the entire place. There were several buildings – shrines, shops, you name it. There were awesome fox statues, which I really liked. Love at first sight! Foxes, or 狐 [きつね: kitsune] as they’re called in Japanese, are Inari’s messengers, so I wasn’t surprised they were so depicted so often. There were some torii here and there, but nearly not as many as there should be, according to legend. Strange. Was I in the right place? Yes, yes I was. I inspected some of the shrines, snooped around some shops, took pictures of the statues and rounded some corners. And then…
Fushimi Inari. What can I say? All the pictures I’ve seen and all the stories I’ve heard just don’t do this place justice. Most of the time, the pictures and the reality of sightseeing attractions aren’t one and the same – the locations just aren’t as impressive as their photos. In Fushimi Inari-taisha’s case, it’s the opposite. I had expected just one path covered with the torii, one little tunnel where all the pictures were taken. Boy, was I wrong! There’s not just one tunnel. Many tunnels cover the entire mountain. Those tunnels are endless. There are thousands upon thousands of torii – not even exaggerating here. They all lead to another shrine, small or big. From there, you can enter a new tunnel. Divine world indeed! I had found torii heaven, I was sure of it.
The only downside: I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see this place. The mountain was absolutely crowded with other tourists, so clear shots were out of the question. Bummer. But that wasn’t what bothered me most about the tourists. What really stung, is that I saw people together everywhere. I saw families, couples, groups of friends – and here I was, on my own. Suddenly, I felt ridiculously lonely. I tried not to let it ruin my fun, but once it starts, you can’t quite stop it I guess. But what was I gonna do, go back to Nagoya? No way! Alone or not, I would see as much as I could of the wonders this divine mountain had to offer. But I still wanted to get away from the other tourists a bit, so I snuck between a few torii and went offroute. At first I felt bad about it, until I came across a lot of tiny shrines and small temples. My favourite one was two exceptionally small kitsune sculptures to which some 1 yen-coins had been offered. I couldn’t help tossing in a coin or two myself. Apparently, going offroute was okay. And way calmer. I liked it!
Apart from the many shrines and tokens that could be admired both by following the torii-path and going offroute, the environment had a lot to offer. The mountain was completely covered in trees. I could barely believe I was still in a major city like Kyōto! What I loved most about this forest is that a big part of it was made up of bamboo. For the first time in my life, I was in a real life bamboo forest. It’s an amazing sight, smell and feeling, I gotta tell you that.
After a while I started following the path again, and ended up at a crossroads. From there, I could choose between going further up the mountain or going back downhill. I would have loved to see more of the torii and the shrines, but there was so much more to see in Kyōto, so I decided on going back down again. It was a cute road with a little stream and a fancy bridge, and it led back down to the main entrance with the shops and a little food market. I was very happy to finally have seen the torii of Fushimi Inari. But Kyōto is way bigger than that. Next stop: Gion Shijō!
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