The magnificent Shinto shrine in Kyoto- Fushimi Inari Taisha

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is a magnificent Shinto shrine located in the south east part of Kyoto city. The shrine is in dedication of the god Inari, who is the Shinto god of rice, prosperity and a principal God. With the huge importance of rice on Japanese culture and history (in so far as rice being the traditional measure of wealth), Inari is a very popular and well revered god in the religion.

Inari is also the patron of business, and so historically Inari has been revered at Fushimi Inari Taishya by businessmen and merchants since its establishment, which even predates the time when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. In modern times essentially all Japanese corporations make offerings at Fushimi Inari Taisha, and these offerings are easily observed as the many thousands of red torii gates that make up the interesting nature of the shrine.

Fushimi Inari Taisha is easily reached from Kyoto by taking the JR Nara Line and getting off at JR Inari station. The entire trip takes around five minutes and costs 140 yen. Access is also possible via the Keihan Line and alighting at Fushimi Inari station.

From the station, it is very obvious which way to go to reach Fushimi Inari Taisha. The first thing of great note you will see is the giant torii gate called “Romon”. Although Fushimi Inari Taisha dates back to the year 711, this gate was built in 1589.

Behind Romon, there is the main shrine building called “Go-honden”. Here you can buy offerings for Inari, which should help you have luck with business and such things. If you are starting a new enterprise venture, Inari is the god to whom you should be praying to! In the center building you will see priests giving blessings to people. This is a paid ceremony that many people go through in order to receive Inari’s favor. The white robed priests are lower in rank, and the more color they are wearing, the more high ranked the priest. To the right of Go-Honden is a small stage with taiko drums and koto. If you are lucky you can watch a performance here by priests and shrine maidens. It is believed music is one of the strongest and most reliable ways to communicate with the gods. The performance is actually the priests calling for blessings for the ones sitting on the stage. These people are either very wealthy, or representing their corporation (in which case they are probably pretty wealthy anyway!). During the New Year’s festivities, Fushimi Inari Taisha is very popular, and it would be a good chance to catch one of these performances.

To the right of Go-Honden is a flight of stairs which leads up to a hiking trail. This hiking trail is the real draw to Fushimi Inari Taisha for most tourists. The trail ascends the 233 meter tall Mount Inari, and is jam packed the whole way with thousands of red torii gates. The path is called “Senbon torii,” which literally means thousands of torii gates.

Each of the torii gates that make up the Senbon torii have an inscription on the sides. The left shows the date and the right the name of the person who donated it. That’s right, each gate was built due to the donation of an individual or corporation who wished to obtain Inari’s blessing. These gates range in price from around half a million to millions of yen, probably depending on the size. If you really look for it, (which will take a very long time), you will find a gate from essentially every Japanese company. Whilst the Japanese mostly claim to not be religious, there is no doubt that a lot of faith is still put into the native Shinto beliefs.

The trail extends to the top of the mountain, and takes one to two hours when doing it at a leisurely, sightseeing pace. It is never really anything that could be called strenuous, but you are free to turn around at any point and head back down.

Here and there, the path is exposed to views of Kyoto city, which is pretty cool.

About halfway up we reach a crossroads of sorts, called “Yotsusuji”. At Yotsusuji there are a few restaurants which sell Inari sushi and other aburaage (fried tofu) dishes. Aburaage is favored as it is said that foxes really like it. But what do foxes have to do with Inari? Well, foxes are believed to be Inari’s messengers and that is why they are very prominent at Fushimi Inari Taisha. Personally, Inari sushi is one of my favorite foods, so any reason to eat some is a good reason to eat some.

From Yotsusuji, you can take either path as they loop around to each other. Then, you can head back down the same path in order to return home. The path after Yotsusuji has slightly less torii gates but in my opinion climbing half a mountain is just a poor effort, so let us continue on!

After Yotsusuji, the ascent does get a little steeper, but it is not unbearable.

Do you love cats? Fushimi Inari Taisha seems to be absolutely filled with stray cats. The first time I came here I stopped at the shrine above, threw my coin and rang the bell to make my prayer. Suddenly three or four very sour looking cats popped out heads up and surprised me! I think I disturbed their slumber. If you come to Fushimi Inari Taisha during dusk, you will see more stray cats than you have ever seen, and that includes our readers who work at the pound. They are everywhere. Literally. You can’t find a view that doesn’t have three or four idling around.

Do you notice the many many small torii gates? These are donations made by the more regular people (read, not super rich) like yours truly. These little gates can be bought at various points around the mountain. You should write your name and the date on it. You are free to take it home as a souvenir, but I think the proper procedure is to leave it somewhere on the mountain in order to receive the blessing. Well, you could always do both.

After reaching the peak and descending back down, you will recognize Yotsusuji once more. From here we simply head back down the trail and that completes our tour of Fushimi Inari Taisha. I hope you will enjoy a visit to this shrine, knowing a little more about its importance and purpose in the Shinto religion. Let us go enjoy Fushimi Inari Taisha!

NameFushimi Inari ShrineCategoryShrineAddress68 Fukakusa Yabunouchicho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 612-0882AccessOpening Hours24-hoursPrice RangeFreePayment options

Photo and text by Voyapon.
Original text written by Voyapon writer Luka Jackson and edited by Like Japan Editorial Team.