Entirely on a whim on the train to Kyoto, we decided to go to Fushimi Inari-Taisha after arrival. This also meant that entirely on a whim, we had decided to climb a small mountain.
Kyoto Station is like any other large station in Japan: somehow orderly through the chaos, and a million places to store your luggage provided you can remember how to get back to the place you left it. Freed from the constraints of our very large luggage, we merrily hopped on the train to Inari.
Fushimi Inari Taisha
This is a place we did not go last time I was in Kyoto. I have no idea why: it’s near Kyoto and according to the twenty or so banners around the entrance, tourists’ favorite place in all of Japan according to Trip Advisor. As it follows, the place was packed, even midday on a weekday.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is a Shinto Shrine on a mountain dedicated to Inari, the patron of business. There are tens of thousands of vermillion torii in the shrine and on the mountain. Fox imagery is omnipresent, as foxes are seen as messengers. They appeared in pairs all around the shrine.
We wandered around the main temple grounds for a while and I took approximately 10,000 pictures of fall leaves as is the way of my people. Plenty of other tourists were partaking in forms of worship at the shrine proper, or joining me in worship of fall and changing leaves.
The first half hour was spent shuffling around in a packed herd with other tourists, but the crowd thinned as you moved up the mountain.
It had grown hot and, of course, humid (because this is Japan and it is always humid). The clouds cleared and the sun peeked out after we started our hike. We began passing groups of older ladies who would almost always be saying with such regularity “It’s so hot!” as we passed them that it seemed as if it was some kind of obaasan code. There were regular intervals of shops selling ice cream and water as we moved up, with prices increasing the higher we got up the mountain.
After about an hour of constantly ascending slopes and bumpy stairs, we reached a station that said “five minutes to the top!” This sign was a source of consternation for every traveler that passed it, but at least the sign didn’t lie (unlike previous signs, which were identical to other signs thirty minutes apart, as if we had entered some kind of hellish time loop consisting of stairs and sweat and more stairs).
And then…we made it! 233 meters above sea level and through thousands of torii, we had made it to the shrine up top.
The trip down was just as taxing, but we got to go through a sea of street vendors and I got to gleefully stuff my face full of fresh custard taiyaki for the first of what will surely be many times in this trip.
Daitoku-ji
We had some time to kill before check-in at our ABB, so we decided to brave…the bus. Will we go the wrong direction? Will the bus take a mysterious detour and take forever to get to its destination? Who knows!
Anyway, the bus curse did not strike this time, and we made it to daitoku-ji successfully. Daitoku-ji is a Buddhist temple which features zen gardens and peaceful temple interiors. It was not crowded, making the gardens peaceful and quiet. It was almost like we weren’t in the middle of a city. Click the images below to view a larger version.
Kinkaku-ji (Golden pavilion)
From Daitoku-ji, we successfully bussed to Kinkaku-ji before it closed. Kinkaku-ji, or the golden pavilion, is an iconic symbol of Kyoto. It’s a big, golden building, and I assume it is legally required to be stamped on at least half of all Kyoto souvenirs. I had been here last time and it was pretty – but I remembered the tourist hordes we bravely faced down last time.
And hordes there were – everyone was trying to get their visit in before the shrine closed at 5:00. I fought off some Chinese tourists and didn’t step on any schoolkids. A rousing success, I’d say.
Thoroughly tired of walking and stairs, we went back to the station-maze to find where we had left our luggage, which was no easy feat. We only had four more flights of stairs to conquer for the day and that was it! …with large suitcases…
At least I can say not today, bus curse, not today!
Tomorrow: Nara!