Almost missed the famous orange shrine in Kyoto. We woke up late everyday so end up we had very little time exposed to the sun. However, Fushimi Inari is one of the must go when you are in Kyoto. We don’t want to miss it so we went to explore the shrine at night. Hahaha, i know its a lil bit creepy but yea, we did it. And yea, its a lil bit creepy.

Fushimi Inari is the head shrine of Inari. Since early Japan, Inari was seen as a patron of business. Inari is the God of rice, merchants and manufactures traditionally worshipped Inari.

Look at the torii (Japanese gate within a Shrine), each torii at Fushimi Inari is donated by a Japanese Business. 

By just looking at the map, the torii gate is built until the hill top. No, we dint climb up the hill because its very dark and it might took forever for us to climb up the hill.

Foxes or statue of foxes are commonly seen in the Shrine. In the olden days, foxes are regarded as a messenger found in the Inari shrine. In the mouth of the fox statue, there’s a key. It is believed to be a key to the rice granary.

Sorry I din’t take any photo of the foxes because.. hmm.. well.. umm.. 

We took a few pictures at the second half of the torii gates. 

And glad we are not the only one who visit the shrine at night. There’s a bunch of ladies doing the same thing too. They help us took some photos before we depart to the train station to Osaka again.

And the shrine, it just feels majestic. Its dark but the shrine outshine it. History makes a place meaningful.

If any of you intended to visit Fushimi Inari, its best to visit during the day time. And they provide audio guide. It will be more interesting listening to the audio aid while exploring the place!

Related posts: