On Wednesday morning, we had some time before we caught our afternoon shinkansen, so we decided to visit Fushimi-Inari Shrine. None of us had been there before, but it's one of the few places in Kyoto that they actually shot "Memoirs of a Geisha." We saw a monk before even heading in.
People used to come to pray for success in farming, but now come to pray for business success and prosperity. We saw a lot of business cards left at the shrines. Fushimi-Inari Shrine was was founded in 711 and is dedicated to the goddess of rice (rice was collected as taxes during the shogun era). The 4km (2 1/2-mile) pathway behind the shrine is lined with more than 10,000 red torii, which are all donated. There were also a bunch of stone foxes, which are considered messengers of the gods.
This was the second set of torii (gates), which were so close together, they form a tunnel.
Most shrines in Japan sell wooden placards, upon which you can write your wish. The placards here were foxes with blank faces, which you could decorate.
More torii.
After getting not even halfway, we hit a pond. Adam was very interested in the koi and turtles.
More wish-writing placards, shaped like torii. We enjoyed the shrine - I can see why they chose to film a movie here. After enjoying a nice hike through the gates (although we didn't make it more than halfway), we headed back for our shinkansen to Hiroshima.
Picture from "Memoirs of a Geisha."
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