Fushimi Inari Shrine

23 September 2011, Shubun no hi (National Holiday for Autumn Equinox)

Finally a beautiful, clear and less steamy day! Since the national holiday is a time for visiting graves, it seemed appropriate to visit the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Fushimi. This is an ancient Shinto Shrine built in honor of Inari, the God of Rice. People come from all over to pray for prosperity, health and so on. Over hundreds of years, behind the main temple buildings, thousands of torii gates have been built (each by a business or individual - priced according to size) to line the paths going up Mt. Inari. Along the way are hundreds of smaller shrines typically adorned with miniature torii and with foxes (the messengers of Inari) wearing red bibs. The paths are rise steeply up the mountain through the woods, with light and shadows creating a wonderful, dramatic arch. The loud sounds of cicadas and ravens provide the music.
A wonderful and energetic hike, and we made it to the top! Treated ourselves to soft cones made with soy flour flavor...? The top two photos were taken by Win and the third shows one of the wily foxes holding a granary key in its jaws. At the shrine we rang one of the large bells to send good wishes to Anne P. and later lit a candle in remembrance of the wonderful trip we had to Kyoto with C & J in 2009.

Before visiting the shrine, we took a walk through Fushimi to see the old sake breweries by the canal. Fushimi (town) is still a center for sake production. The town is just a few stops further south from Fushimi Inari on the Keihan line. Easy to get to.

Back home, with tired feet, we decided to go out for supper locally, and so stumbled into a joint where you mostly grill your own food at the table - a combination of all manner of chicken parts (including cartilage and skin) or meats or sea food from a large tank (clams for us, but there were also eels, and other creatures as well). Certainly an adventure in trying to figure out what to do from watching other diners but also trying not to stare. Rice with a raw egg and some soy sauce mixed in turns out to be pretty tasty. We had wheat wine with dinner which was something like sake. Sticky rice balls in syrup for dessert.

We wish everyone a good fall and send love.