Kyoto - Fukushima Inari Shrine

Our last day in Kyoto was 20-Nov.   We split into 2 parties with Rika and Atsuko going shopping while Granny, Grandad, Hannah and I planned to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine and then find the Myoan temple.

Hannah enjoyed the tourist shops at the approach to the shrine.   She wanted to watch these dancing cats again and again.

Actually we had the most memorable start to the day.  Can you guess what happened here?

Thats right.  While watching the cats Hannah did an unexpected poo, so she stuck her hand down her nappy to check, and then wiped her hands on the front of my trousers as I was filming!    Fortunately we Daddys know all about poo-cleaning, and we were soon cleaned up and on our way to the shrine. 

Fushimi Inari is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.

At the very back of the shrine's main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate covered hiking trail, which starts with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates"). The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

After about a 30-45 minute ascent and a gradual decrease in the density of torii gates, visitors will reach the Yotsutsuji intersection roughly half way up the mountain, where some nice views over Kyoto can be enjoyed, and the trail splits into a circular route to the summit. 

Granny and granddad hiked gamely up the trails.   Here they are pretending to be exhausted by the climb. 

For the descent, we turned left and took the trail north along the ridge and down behind Tokufuji shrine, to look for the Myoan temple.  

Hannah and Granddad at Tokufuji