Japan & Jeju Island 2014: Day 11

Another truncated day, as the ship was leaving before dinner time. So, I mono-goaled it again, and took the train into Kyoto in search of Fushimi-Inari Temple. This turned out to be a great choice for a last sight in Japan, as I was on the edge of getting Templed-out, but this place is like a Temple of Temples. In fact, it is a whole small mountain turned into a network of Temples connected by pathways. The two main paths from the base of the mountain are each covered by a series of red gates spaced about a meter apart, for their entire length! And red gates are definitely the major theme here. Among the many offerings you can purchase are red gates ranging in size from about 6" high to about 18", the latter costing over $100CAD. Also, foxes..foxes are a theme, too. It was a brilliant place.

The first gate, and the temple.

The temple, with two guardians.

Another form of prayer/offering...

Mini-gate offerings.

Nice details.

Here starteth the path...

So, I headed up the mountain on the gate-covered path, but it was pretty crowded. It split into two smaller paths at one point, and then rejoined before continuing up the mountain.

Here it splits into two paths with smaller gates.

Surreal.

Instragrammed goodness...

I headed off on an un-gate-covered trail which looked like it offered a bit more wilderness, and circled around the side of the mountain before reuniting with the gate path at the top. It went through a lot of bamboo forest that had been and was being actively forested. Also, there were smaller (but not small) shrines every 100m or so along this secondary path, as well as those off the gate-covered path, making for dozens of shrines up there.