Fushimi Inari Shrine

November 29, 2017

Fushimi Inari Shrine

6:00 am | Day 3 | Kyoto

Day 3 in Kyoto and we woke up very early. The weather was better than the day before - though a bit cloudy. It was nonetheless, a perfect day to cope up with our missed itinerary. Our plan was to visit 3 places - 2 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. These were in south-east of Kyoto and a little bit far from our usual route.

To start our day, we had noodles for breakfast from our previous night's noodle shopping at Seven-Eleven. Prepared and ready to go, we left the guesthouse around 6:20 in the morning. Our first stop was Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is best known for its thousands of red torii gates. It is the most visited place in Kyoto. Because of its popularity, tourists come here as early as possible to avoid the crowd and that was exactly what we did too!

From our guesthouse, which was at Kiyomizu-Gojo Station, we took the Keihan Main Line to Fushimi Inari Station using ICOCA card. It was just 4 stations away and because it was still early, the train was almost empty. From the station, we walked to the main entrance of the Shrine and got there around 6:30 in the morning. Surprisingly, many tourists were already there. Most were photographers - amateurs and professionals as they had lots of gears with them hoping to capture good photographs.

At the entrance, a huge torii gate greeted us with an impression. There was also a map showing the vastness of the place. From foot to the peak of the mountain, thousands of torii gates led to the sacred Mt. Inari. Some tourists would hike the trail to reach the peak that is approximately 2-3 hours. They said that from the peak you’ll have a beautiful overlooking view of the city. For us, we just walked around the foot of the Shrine to save time.

*The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donor's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate.