Fushimi Inari Shrine – Greg and Mandy's Travels

When we first discussed what we wanted to see in Japan, I had four requests. Ride a Shinkansen – tick. Walk across the crossing at the Shibuya Scramble – tick. See Mt Fuji – tick. And walk through those vermillion Torii gates you see in all the photos. Well, today was the day to tick this last one off the list.

But first it was down to the famous Nishiki Market for a walk through and breakfast. It’s a covered one-street market that’s 7 blocks long, though it doesn’t come alive until lunchtime, so the photos don’t do the chaos justice. However, we found a patisserie run by two young American educated Japanese women who knew what coffees were all about, as well as having a rather yummy selection of croissants and cakes, and that was breakfast sorted.

Through the rest of the market then down to the metro station to go a few stops out of town to the foot of the mountain upon which sits the Fushimi Inari Shrine. To get to the shrine and lake at the top of the mountain you have to climb a set of stairs through thousands of vermillion gates leading into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari. The exact number of gates is unknown, principally as they keep adding more every time a business wants to make a donation to the Shrine. Each one has the sponsor’s name discretely written on the reverse.

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto God of rice. It has ancient origins, predating the capital’s move to Kyoto in 794. It is estimated that 3 million visitors go there on New Years Day, so mercifully it was much more civilised for us.

Down the bottom of the hill once more we came across the Kyoto Donuts store. Passed on the bacon glazed donuts, and instead bought one of the lemon meringue ones. Good choice.

Back to the train and a couple of stations down the track we got off again for a climb up another hill to see the Kiyomizu (Pure Water) temple.

The temple was founded in 778 AD and contains buildings from the 17^th century, including a main hall designated as a National Treasure. Its most famous aspect is the wooden stage complex, made of 168 pillars. This structure was built using a rather special method: 12-meter high keyaki pillars made from thick, centuries-old trees and a floor made of 410 cypress boards which was all assembled and installed without using a single nail, instead relying on locking wooden joints.

If you believe in that kind of thing, you could also join the long queue to drink the sacred water filled with good karma at the Otowa no Taki waterfall, guaranteeing long life and a happy relationship.

Haven’t been able to afford any beef so far this trip, so on the way back I actually popped into McDonalds for a hamburger at lunchtime. I’d thought that Japanese food was pretty cheap, and this confirmed it. The Big Mac index (for a medium meal) is about $7 here, while it’s around $11 back home.

Microwaved a meal from the local supermarket for dinner.

My device tells me we climbed 32 flights of stairs today, although it was really one long continuous climb.