If Mount Fuji is the most iconic sight in all of Japan, then the thousand vermilion torii gates at Fushimi Inari shrine, called senbon torii, are surely the most recognizable and most photographed sight in Kyoto. During our trip, we visited twice; once very early in the morning as a short stop on our way to Nara, for some quick photos of the torii gates without throngs of people, and again on a different day, in the late afternoon, for a more thorough visit that took us almost all the way to the Mount Inari summit.
Fushimi Inari Taisha is located in Southern Kyoto, and it is best reached via the Nara line, which is covered by the JR Pass. It’s the second stop from Kyoto Station, a mere five minute ride, but note that express trains don’t stop here, you have to take a local one; the shrine is open 24 hours, and admission is free. It is one of many thousands in Japan dedicated to Inari, the Shinto God of rice and agriculture, who is also related with general prosperity, especially in business. Recent surveys estimate that over one third of all Shinto shrines in the country are dedicated to Inari! Foxes are thought to be Inari’s divine messengers, which is why there are so many kitsune statues all over the shrine grounds, most holding a key to the rice granary in their mouths.
The main gate and shrine are located at the foot of the mountain, and you’ll reach the senbon torii by heading towards the right-hand side of the grounds. These thousands of torii gates straddle a whole network of trails behind the main buildings, leading to the inner shrine and many smaller shrines and mounds for private worship in the wooded forest of sacred Mount Inari.
The custom to donate a torii to the shrine to get a wish granted, or to express one’s gratitude for one coming true, started in the Edo period some 300-400 years back. The (to most Western eyes) more photogenic side of the gates, the one with the writing, is actually looking through them backwards; most of the torii gates we see today were donated by Japanese businesses, and the writing is nothing but advertisements! The cost starts around ¥400,000 for a small sized gate, and increases to over one million yen for a large one.
The parallel double-corridors of smallish torii that people usually associate with Fushimi Inari Taisha end at the foot of the mountain, and that’s as far as we went on our quick morning visit. When we went back on a different day, we kept following the torii-lined path with the intention of reaching the Mount Inari summit, and you’ll see that the gates will get bigger, vary in size, and eventually, the further up you’ll venture, decrease in density.
Along the way, there are several smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets… and you’ll meet the resident shrine kitties! We saw many, in the woods, on the paths, but especially a little up the mountain, where someone had put out food and water for them in a corner of one of the smaller shrines. Some consider them kitsune spirits in disguise, so they looked well-fed and cared for, despite being clearly feral. The ones we encountered weren’t exactly skittish or afraid, but rather just completely unbothered by people and not interested in being pet, although one deigned to play with an offered stick (which probably entertained us more than the cat).
Roughly half-way up Mount Inari, after about 30-45 minutes of ascent, you’ll reach the Yotsutsuji intersection, which offers some nice views over Kyoto. It’s clearly a spot people seek out for sunset views—despite not having encountered too many people on the last part of the walk up, we suddenly found ourselves among a relatively big group of people waiting for the sun to set behind Kyoto.
At this point, the trail splits into a circular route to the summit, but many hikers only venture as far as here. We did go a little further, but had to turn back once it got dark—this last part of the torii-trail isn’t lit, and we didn’t feel like hiking by the light of our phones. We turned around when we got to a little refreshment/souvenir shop type of kiosk, which was closed, but had an ominous hand-written sign in the shop window: “Caution! It is dangerous to see eyes with a monkeys”.
There was the odd lamp lighting the way once we got closer to the main shrine again, and I really, really loved the torii gates’ shadowplay, I thought it was really pretty. The trails were deserted at that time of day, and walking through the sacred paths on our own, in the semi-darkness, with no sound but those of our own steps and those of the woods around us, made for a peaceful and eerie experience I’ll wager is otherwise hard to get at Fushimi Inari.
I definitely don’t need to recommend this place to anyone who is visiting Kyoto, since it’s at the top of everyone’s list, but I do highly recommend a (very) early morning visit if you want to get pictures of the senbon torii without people; when we came back for our more thorough visit in the afternoon, you could hardly move through them. I’d say that the hike is a must-do to get a better feeling of the shrine and Shinto’s closeness to nature—and that way, even on a busy day, you’ll leave most crowds behind, meet cats, and get some nice views out of it! If we’re ever back, we’ll time it better so that we can get all the way to the summit.
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