Japan Fushimi Inari Taisha

We were on for our first temple on our tour, and to get there we used the local train. The goal was the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine which is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres above sea-level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines. Since in early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, each of the Torii is donated by a Japanese business. First and foremost though, Inari is the god of rice. Merchants and manu- facturers worship Inari for wealth. Donated Torii lining footpaths are part of the scenic view and they stretch for quite a long distance. Name of the donator is written on each of them.

Click on the picture to get a larger version

When we got out of the train it was not difficult to find the road to the tamplearea

The foxes are watching us enter under the big portal

Inside we visited several of the many temples

All the portals here have name of the giver - and the road was long!

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