The famous Fushimi Inari Shrine is only two stops away from our hotel by local train, so it was easy making our way there today (along with hundreds of other visitors).
This Shinto shrine is famous for its thousands of orange (officially vermillion) torii gates which straddle a network of trails behind the main Shrine building. The trails lead up to the sacred Mount Inari.
Ella and I were in charge of working out where to start.........
Fushimi Inari is dedicated to Inari the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers. Foxes are a constant theme throughout the grounds of this shrine.
This is the second day that Ella has been doing the big step count in her Doc Martens - they are finally being worn in - and Mount Inari proves it!
The torii gates along the entire trail are donated by individuals and companies. The donor's name and the date of the donation are inscribed on the back of each gate.. Apparently the donation amount starts at around $4,000AUD for a smaller gate and increases to $10,000AUD for a large gate.
We found this small private shrine area halfway up the mountain and were intrigued to see people making offerings and prayers at their own family shrines.
This shrine decoration was made from thousands (and thousands) of tiny origami paper cranes
Now to work out how to get down the mountain...........
We found our lunch at one of the restaurants on the 11th floor of Kyoto Station today - after raving to Ella that Kyoto Station is a world unto itself and worthy of at least a day's visit for its own sake. It was a great lunch (yakitori with side dishes)!
We headed back up to the city after our very late lunch and Ella and Rob were very patient while I took a good look at my fave Nomura Tailor, Kyoto's famous fabric store ...........
So they were very deserving of this matcha soft serve afterwards - one of Kyoto's best!!
We ended off the day with a shop at our next door supermarket. It's fun working out if what we're buying will be edible!!
No comments:
Post a Comment