Fushimi Inari is the head shrine for the Inari Okami. Inari is the kami (god) of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and Sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success. Inari is also one the main 8 gods of Shinto and has been worshiped since the 5th century.
Because Inari is the god of prosperity and worldly success, companies pay patronage to the god by donating money to the shrine to have Torii erected in their name. There are thousands of these torii all over the Fushimi Inari shrine, each with names carved into them. The size and detail of each torii is determined by the amount donated.
Our friend, Ryosuke, invited us (Elijah and I) to go to the shrine and then join his family for dinner.
Yusaku and Georgia happened to be going to the shrine the same day, so all 5 of us met up at Hirakatashi station and departed on the Keihan line towards the shrine.
About 30 minutes and a train transfer later, we arrived in Fushimi Inari station which is decorated to resemble the shrine, with the cross beam supports looking like red torii.
Walking to the shine took about 7 minutes. Along the path leading to the shrine, food vendors and souvenir shops were setup up attracting large crowds. From this point onward is when I started taking pictures. We were these for -hours-, so I have a bunch of pictures of the shrine. After taking some pictures at the opening of the shrine, we set off.
You'll see most of the shrine through the pictures that will be posted below. There are a LOT of pictures, so be prepared ;) Note: Part of the way along the path through the shrine there is a secondary path that you can take to the top. It goes through the backside of the mountain and you see a lot of smaller family shrines built into the mountain. It is also a much harder trek. This is the path that we decided to take.
I'll be posting about dinner and visiting Ryosuke's home in follow up post because of how long this one will be due to pictures.
Here are the pictures.
Map of the entire shrine.
This represents Inari, the kami of foxes.
I took a picture of this just to show how they were securing the stone pebbles used. Keeps people from kicking them all over the place. Pretty cool.
The idea behind this is to 'wash your hands in blessed shrine water'
The more you donate, the bigger the Torii.
--------The secondary path starts here------
Some of the family shrines that we found
Old American cartoon. Was surprised to see it.
This is a tarp over a stack of wood, protecting it from rain.
Spiders. Spiders EVERYWHERE.
Finally back on the normal path!
Top of the mountain! Whooo!
