Fushimi Inari Taisha and the thousand gates

Today is our last full day in Kyoto and the plan is to visit the shrine we were going planning for on day one if not for the rain - Fushimi Inari Taisha.

You might not recognise the name but you’ll likely recognise the pictures of the red torii gates. There is a thousand of them along the path ascending Mount Inari.

Not too much walking to get to our destination today, a mercy given the heat in the sun. There is a subway stop five minutes from our hotel and it has a direct line to the shrine. Another type of rail system meant another slight variation on the ticket machines. This one clearly assumed everyone knows their subway route intimately. In Tokyo you could search by destination number or name. here, number only. So, unless you’ve memorised the Kyoto subway codes you’ve got no chance just rocking up and buying a ticket. I retreated from the machine for a few minutes to get my bearings on the subway map on the wall above. After picking a number which was a guess at best I bought tickets and we were in our way. Yes, we had to stand on the subway.

The huge torii gate signifying the start of the path.

When we alighted at the other end I held my breath for a moment as we fed our tickets through the barriers but they were accepted and so we emerged back into the harsh rays of the sun. I say harsh but it was really just hot. The Japanese sun hasn’t burnt us at all since we’ve been here despite the heat. I packed, but haven’t been using, sunscreen (don’t tell mum or she’ll make Marge noises at me) and there hasn’t been any issues.

We stopped at a restaurant for some very late breakfast. I ended up with jam on toast after giving up my preferred meal to Kairi who had ordered eggs on toast and decided she didn’t like it. Do you know the last time I had jam on toast? Never according to my official recollection of life. You can imagine how happy I was. Kairi also ordered a banana drink (gross) which she also didn’t like. Teneille lost half her orange juice as a result.

Foxes are believed to be the messengers of Inari.

The path up the mountain takes you through rain forest.

After that debacle we resumed our short stroll to the shrine. A huge cobblestone path passes beneath the first of the torii gates leading up to the shrine proper. The crowds were pretty full-on, as they have been most places we’ve visited in both Tokyo and Kyoto. It is a peak tourist season with Australian school holidays but places like the shrine and the bamboo forest are open 24/7. Had I not been weighted down by offspring on this trip I would have visited this shrine at 6am and enjoyed a crowdless experience.

We looked around some of the main buildings of the shrine, which is still used as an official religious site. There were a few people in the areas reserved solely for those of the Shinto faith where there were also signs prohibiting photography. That didn’t stop one obnoxious tourist with an SLR, Teneille informed me at one point. I never saw the woman but the signs were clear and everywhere so it was a flagrant act of disrespect. I resisted the urge to find her and smash the expensive camera she probably didn’t know how to use anyway.

A mountain lake. This is where we left Teneille and Aiden.

We continued moving along the path as it began its climb up the mountain. We passed through hundreds of torii gates as we went along with the incessant masses of tourists who kept stopping in the middle of the congested passage to get a photo. Some meant against the gates with head tilted and one leg in the air. You can’t visit a significant religious and cultural site without looking totes cute right? I barged past these morons whenever possible.

Fushimi Inari Taisha is the head shrine of more than 30,000 other Inari shrines scattered across Japan. It honours Inari Okami, the god of rice, agriculture and business. Fox statues can be seen everywhere in tribute to the animal believed to be the messenger of Inari. The torii gates are believed to be the threshold separating our world from the spirit realm where many of the Shinto deities reside. The red or orange colours that made up the bulk of the gates we passed through are meant to ward off evil spirits.

The higher up the mountain we went the more the crowds thinned out as the vapid selfie crowd realised sweating profusely in the humidity wasn’t conducive to the perfect photo. We lost Teneille to a bung knee and Aiden to a lack of testicular fortitude about a quarter of the way up. I would have ideally gone on by myself but Emily and Kairi wanted to continue also. I estimate we got about halfway before the girls packed it in and we were forced to descend. I couldn’t just leave them to wait for me and so Mount Inari remains in conquered.

We headed back down, collected Aiden and Teneille on the way, and made our way back to the station. We had an afternoon siesta at the hotel before venturing back into the subway system to find the Kyoto Botanical Gardens.

While travelling to the shrine earlier in the day, Teneille had found a brochure for a light installation at the gardens in celebration of their 100th anniversary. We booked tickets during the afternoon and headed out at sunset to make our time slot. The subway exit was right at the garden entrance which was a positive

The lit up arboretum.

Aiden taking in the serenity.

The installation, titled Light Cycles, was staged throughout the massive arboretum at the gardens. There were four areas meant to represent nature or some shit but the lights were pretty.

They had light beams filtering through bushes and canopies mixed with smoke machines and music. Some parts of the installation were quite amazing but the best part of the whole thing was the crowds… or lack thereof. There were a few people wandering through but that was it. I think I counted maybe eight people other than us and just as many staff. It was bliss.

Teneille catching starlight.

We meandered our way back to the subway afterwards and went to bed. Packing in the morning and a bullet train to Hiroshima are the agenda for the day.