Seeing Red in Inari, and Uji

We ended our visit to Japan with 6 nights in Osaka, 3 shared with SL's cousin who is living in Nagoya, followed by 2 nights with old friends from Shanghai. Busy!

But we had the first full day to ourselves and used it to head north to Kyoto Prefecture and visit places we missed when in Kyoto in 2006; that is, the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shinto shrine in Kyoto City, and the Byodoin Buddhist Temple in Uji.

At Inari we saw more tourists in one hour than in the previous 3 months combined; and 10 times the number of Western tourists; and rightly so as Inari is loads of fun and not your usual temple experience. A lifetime of torii (gates).

Walking through the fish market arcade on the way to the station.


Whoa! That's a big torii in front of Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine.


The shrine with its bright reds and greens.


It is popular to rent traditional clothes and walk through the shrine area.


The Inari Shrine is known for its tunnels of bright red torii. More than 10,00 in 3 kilometers of tunnels.


It's a fun place to be.


Video.


Most of the torii have their donor's info on the backside.










Blending in.






There are also smaller shrines and cemeteries along the way.


Many of which feature a fox image.




A couple of spots along the way have views back towards Kyoto.


And we make our way down and out.




We leave Inari and ride the train 30 minutes to Uji, known as the setting the novel Tale of Genji, and Byodoin Buddhist Temple.


More costume renting at Byodoin.


The Buddhist Temple.