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The shrine itself is adorned with thousands of torii gates which symbolize the gateway to sacred grounds and most of the gates at the Fushimi Inari shrine are donated by businesses who have been successful. Each of the torii have the businesses names on them and are used to mark the paths on the grounds.
The shrine is filled with so much magic that you can easily get caught up in the traditions of visiting such as the washing of the hands and mouth at the entrance of the individual shrines before ringing the bells, the amusement of drawing your own fox face on a wooden plank, or just spotting hidden idols on the grounds.
Along the torii paths loops for visitors to stop in at many sub-shrines. Imagine our surprise when we realized that there were paths to take you to the top of the mountain. Since our auto accident in January we've been slowly integrating hiking back into our active routine as Chris gets back discomfort and tightness so we figured we may not make it to the top. Luckily for us there were many stops along the paths, from tea houses to gift shops, sub-shrines and drink vending machines that allowed him to take a seat and rest. I even made a little feline friend on our way to the top shrine!
As we were making our decent it felt like we had the place completely to ourselves as there are many little loops other visitors seemed to splinter off on. We rounded one of the sub-shrines and saw that we could have had some company in the form of cheeky monkeys. The sign directed us to not make eye contact, not take pictures, not feed the little rascals and if they approached us to pick up stones and "pretend" to throw them. We didn't actually encounter any furry friends but once we got closer to the bottom of the trail we caught up to other visitors such as a few young ladies walking the path in their kimono and zori (sandals).
All in all it was a beautiful experience that I would definitely recommend as a MUST if you were ever to visit Kyoto. There is just so much beauty in the visit that it should not be missed. As we were leaving I snapped a picture of Chris under the torii since it seemed at some times he would be too tall to walk beneath them. As a result of our desire to hike up the mountain we had lost track of our fellow travelers and decided to partake of a cake cone treat filled with bananas, chocolate, and cream in the shape of a fish while waiting at the entrance in case they came out. The local girls were laughing at me as I was taking pictures of the deliciousness but it was too cute to pass up!
Next up: Strollin' Kyoto and Capsule Sleepin'
