Fushimi Inari-Taisha: 10,000 Torii Gates
We visited the most popular tourist attraction in Japan
When we told Yuki’s mom that we went to the golden pavilion, she suggested that we also visit the silver pavilion. The silver temple, Ginkaku-ji, dates back to 1482 and sought to emulate the golden pavilion. The pavilion was initially planed to be covered in silver foil but after the founder died these plans were never realized. As such, we were slightly disappointed to see a rather plain pavilion and a small garden.
The main feature of the gardens is a mound of sand which we dubbed “the pudding” — it’s actually supposed to be a representation of Mt. Fuji.
The next morning we got up really early at 6AM to visit Fushimi Inari-Taisha, known for having 10,000 orange torii gates. This is the most popular tourist attraction in Japan, if you can believe TripAdvisor, and reviews online suggest that visiting at any time past 10AM would be horrible because of the massive tourist crowds. So we went early and hoped for the best.
The shrine is famous because of the 10,000 torii gates that line a trail up the mountain side. Each torii is donated to the temple for a wish hoping to be granted or in gratitude for a wish that had become true. Inscriptions on the back of the torii indicate that some donations exceed a million yen. Even at the end of the trail on the mountain summit, there are miniature versions of torii gates stacked around the shrine that people have purchased for 12,000 yen ($150 CAD) each.
The trail started out with quite a few other people, but as we continued on people began to turn back either because of the rain or because they were tired of hiking up the hill. We had soaking wet feet but we persevered until we found ourselves alone on the trail.
The thousands of toriis were everything we’d hoped for, and for once our ridiculously orange umbrellas matched the scenery. It was hard taking photos in the low light and with the rain, so we didn’t get very good photos. I hope that we can come back again someday in good weather, as there are plenty of photogenic spots. The photos don’t quite capture the entirety of the scene: to hike the path up the mountain and continuously pass through torii gates. It is a great feeling of being both enclosed and yet in an open forest.
