The Five Yen of Happiness! A trip up to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

The Five Yen of Happiness! A trip up to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

Kyoto is known for its shrines. And even I can’t get a decent count of how many of them are there (be they small, large, massive, etc, etc, etc).

However, there is one shrine that I did want to make the visit to – and that was the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine.

Getting there:

As usual, there’s a choice. For JR Rail Pass holders, take the Nara Line from Kyoto station to Inari station. If you’re paying cash, it’s ¥140 each way. You can also reach it at Fushimi-inari Station on the Keihan Line depending where you’re going to and from.

Again, use the powerful HyperDia to plan your trips.

This fan was very useful to stand under in the heat of Kyoto.

Off the train and towards the shine. The first of many Torii.

Once through the barriers, it wasn’t hard to guess where to go next.

Let’s see. Follow to Torii?

The Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine is the head shrine for those of the Shinto belief (according to Wikipedia) in the spirits of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and Sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success.

So, covering a few bases with luck here I see.

Over 3200 shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari – so it’s an important shrine. For those who watched Memoirs of Geisha will recognise the Torii here.

The entrance and the main shrine on the ground.

At the entrance of the shrine there were knickknacks for sale – mainly food.

Of course, the shrine was also doing good business too.

There were a lot of people in Yukata’s – a sort of Summer Kimono.

The main shrine building looked… well… immaculate.

There was also a small shrine to the right of it all, and I had a spare five yen coin that I had picked up on my recent travels (not the five-yen of happiness – that story comes a lot later), so I summoned the gods and made a true wish with my heart… and continued forward.

A good place to deposit five yen.

With that done it was time to find my way around the shrine and begin the climb.

Umm. I wasn’t prepared for a hike. And not in 29c in the grey with high humidity. Also, the vending machines that were on site were rather…. overpriced.

So I began the approach to the climb….

Here we go…

The beginning of the long hike.

And thus I began the walk. And to start off with there are a lot of people.

Starting to thin out.

There’s plenty more people around the corner.

Plenty of people!

Many prayers… in the shape of a fox.

More foxes.

Shrines are good places to take your dog for a walk too!

Moments of peace and tranquillity.

Eventually, I reached point where there was a waterfall, and Torii…. the perfect place for a photo?

Pretty perfect. However, this would be down to one important thing – timing. There were people coming and going at a lot of times, and Shinto does teach one thing – Patience.

So all I had to do is wait. And I did for about 3 minutes… and the path cleared.

This… I like. One for the photo album – and all of you.

I continued the climb, with people thinning out and the Toriis becoming more enchanting.

Alas, the further I went, the steeper it got.

And steeper.

My legs aren’t up to this in this weather…

Eventually, after resting at a point – I could not face climbing this shrine any further. Shinto may teach patience, tolerance and endurance – but I was running out of all three things in a hurry at that moment.

I followed a different path downhill – one that took me past lots of little shrines and family shrines.

Smaller shrines.

Eventually the shrines turned into homes, and finally – back to the front of the shrine.

With thanks for exiting the long path and accent and decent, I crossed through the shrine gate.

With that, I found a place to melt for a few minutes… and then off to the short walk to the convenience store and the station.

The exit ahead… as well as the convenience store!

Strong Pepsi. Still Strong… and very cold. Pretty perfect.

Inari Station

A Class 221 train to take me back to Kyoto.

Overall: Another wonderful and spiritual place to visit in Japan. The hike was unexpected by me – and proved a challenge in the humidity of the rainy season in Japan. defiantly worth the visit – if not for the thousands of Torii you’ll pass under.

NEXT: Dinner with the The Real_Jetsetr!

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