Fushimi Inari Taisha

The next stop we went to was a shrine in the southern part of the city, about 15 minutes taxi ride from Kiyomizu-dera. A smaller complex, but a fascinating one none the less.

Fushimi-Inari Taisha is a tribute to wealth, located at the bottom of Mount Inari, along a path leading up to the top. Here, local businesses put up tributes in the form of square arch lining up the path called the torii. All the arch in turned was coloured orange, making a straining contrast to the lush greenery of the surrounding area.

Traveling to the temple from Kiyomizu-dera

The main tributes here was for the God of Rice, as this is the main form of food in the region. And along with the rice come sake. At the entrance, there were barrels of the stuff on show. Not sure if they were filled up though.

Another feature was there were plenty of statues of foxes at the bottom of the hills. These foxes were guardians of the shrine and they have keys in their mouth to signify their role as protectors.

Sake barrel lining the entrance as tribute to the Rice GodsThe torii were all painted in glorious and distinctive orange tingeBy the main entranceOnce you reached the foot of the hill, you have a choice in terms of how far up the you wanted to climb to. To go up right top, it would take at least three hours. SInce we didn't have all morning, we decided just to take a leisurely stroll forming a loop leading back down to the entrance, all within 45 minutes or so.

We didn't hang around too long here as we wanted to get to the famed Golden Pavilion next, and we planned to take the underground train and taxi to get there. Therefore it would have taken a bit longer to travel to next destination. Not much lingering around here.

More entries from my Kyoto trip here. The slideshow for the Fushimi visit here.