We are going to Kyoto Station by taxi from the inn and will take a train of the Nara Line to Inari Station. It will be about 5 minutes ride.
Nara Line train. Inside the train. Arrived at the Inari station. Inari station building.
Scenery in front of the Inari station. The red torii is symbolic and impressive.
A torii (鳥居, [to.ɾi.i] a perch of birds who are messengers from heaven.) is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred.
The approach to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. There are a lot of foreign tourists.
Fushimi Inari Shrine Map
Cult of Inari; Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神) is originally the Japanese kami (god) of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture. Today it is a god of industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto.
Big red torii and Romon (Two story tower gate), it’s an Important Cultural Property of Japan.
A pair of fox statues on the left and right of Romon (the tower gate).
The left fox has a key and right one has a hoju (宝珠precious stone) in their mouths. Foxes are worshipped as divine servants in the Inari faith.
After passing through the Romon (tower gate), it is the Gehaiden (outside worship shrine).
The lanterns hanging around the Gehaiden (outside worship shrine) are called “Hanging lantern of Zodiac”.
Hanging lantern of Zodiac of Fushimi Inari-taisha
Naihaiden (Inner worship house)
Honden (Main shrine)
講務本庁(Komuhoncho office) 末社(Matusya, Branch shrine) 奥社奉拝所(Okusha worship place) 神楽殿(Kagura hall at the shrine) : Kagura (神楽) means sacred (Shinto) music and dance.
Passing this torii is the beginning of Senbon Torii.
We are walking into the famous Senbon Trii.
Senbon Torii (千本鳥居 Thousand Torii); Thousands of vermilion torii gates lined up along the inner path at Fushimi Inari Taishain Kyoto. Each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business.
Archway of Senbon Torii, Fushimi Inari Taisha. Daughters of the Chinese parvenu seem to like wearing a kimono.
Most of the tourists are from the foreign countries.
Shrine which was dedicated to the three gods. Shirohata daimyojin(白旗大明神) White Flag Shrine. Shin-ike Pond (新池)
Kumataka Shrine (熊鷹社) Mountain hawk-eagle or Nepal Hawk-Eagle Shrine.
Ancient people thought that flying in the sky freely and strong hawk eagle is the incarnation of god.
From Mitu-tuji (three crossroads) to San-toku Shrine (三ツ辻から三徳大明神へ).
Arrived at Yotu-tuji (四ツ辻Four crossroads). Nice view of the city of Kyoto from here.
Osugi Ogami (大杉大神Old cedar shrine)
It is said that Oosugi Ogami (god) has come down to the Oosugi (big old cedar) and chased away bad illness.
Sannomine三ノ峰Third peak (下之社神蹟Shimonosha Shrine). Ninomine二ノ峰Second peak (中之社神蹟Nakanosha Shrine). Stone steps walking up to Ichinomine from Ninomine. Ichinomine一ノ峰Fist or top peak, altitude 233 m (上之社神蹟Kaminosha Shrine)
It is downhill from Ichinomine, making it easy to walk. The number of travelers walking has decreased.
Gone down Inari Mountain, we are walking to the main hall (Honden) of Fushimi Inari Shrine.
The red toriis were very beautiful.
There was an enormous number of shrines in this sanctuary. I found two mysterious shrines among them.
Doutoku Tenson Shrine (道徳天尊社)
Doutoku Tenson, Daode Tianzun, also known as Taishang Laojun is the god of Taoism. I do not know why the Taoist god has got mixed in here.
Seibo-kannon (聖母観音) Shrine, Our Lady Kannon (Guanyin).
Guanyin is an East Asian bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by Mahayana Buddhists. She is commonly known as the Goddess of Mercy. There is no established theory of the origin of Kannon Bodhisattva. The indigenous goddess was just incorporated into Buddhism. Japanese Shinto priests do not know anything about religion, they know just business.
After Fushimi Inari Shrine, we got into gift shops and enjoyed green tea and traditional sweets.
I have many photos of Fushimi-Inari Shrine. But it is impossible to post everything on this blog. I posted a few pictures on this blog. Many tourists from overseas came and post plenty of photos on the blog, please refer to them. If you come to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, you should come when you are young. It is very beautiful.
weepingredorger 