One of the most famous shrines in Japan, Fushimi Inari is in historical Kyoto and located on the side of Mount Inari. It is most recognizable by its thousands of torii gates that wind up the mountain. I visited the shrine with my religious studies class from Kansai Gaidai University. From Hirakata-shi station to Fushimi Inari station is only a thirty-minute train ride and costs 350 yen.
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Fushimi Inari station
The View
The entire hike is beautiful as you go from the crowded lower parts of the shrine to the quiet, forested top. You can even look out across southern Kyoto!
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view of Southern Kyoto from Mount Inari
The Hike
My group spent all day hiking to the top of the shrine because we stopped so many times to look at individual sacred spaces. According to Inside Kyoto, if someone wanted to do this 5km hike, it would take them about three hours. It is not too difficult, especially if you take an easy pace. There are also many rest stops with food and drinks as you walk up the mountain.
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Hiking trail going through the forest and torii gates
The Religious Significance
Fushimi Inari is the most significant of several thousand shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Because the foxes are thought to be Inari’s messengers, there are many fox statues across the shrine grounds. There are many shrines and sub-shrines to different Shinto and even Buddhist deities as well as ancestral worshiping places.
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One of the hundreds of ancestral worshiping places found at Fushimi Inari
The Cats
There are a ton of wild cats living on the shrine grounds. Cats are often considered lucky in Japan and have been said to be messengers of deities and spirits. In each shrine I have been to so far, I have seen at least one cat and Fushimi Inari is no exception. Since the shrine is located on a mountain, it is easy for cats to retreat into the forest if they need a rest and come back out onto the grounds when they want.
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The Aesthetic
The shrine is filled with nature and history with a unique thing to see around every corner. The shrine and the walk to it has cute food stands, little shops, and even a cat cafe!
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