Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha)

The Fushimi Inari Shrine is certainly interesting. Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is sure an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is really indeed famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main important buildings. The so-called Fushimi Inari Shrine has ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.

A torii (Japanese: 鳥居, [to. ɾi. i]) is a traditional Japanese beautiful gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto has thousands of such torii, each bearing the donor's name.

Shinto (Japanese: 神道, romanized: Shintō) is certainly a religion which originated in the country of Japan.

The current de facto capital of Japan is Tokyo. In the course of human history, the national capital has been in many locations other than Tokyo.

Traditionally, the home of the Emperor is considered the capital. From 794 through 1868, the Emperor lived in Heian-kyō, modern-day Kyoto. After 1868, the seat of the Government of Japan and the location of the Emperor's home was moved to Edo, which it renamed Tokyo.

In 1941, the Ministry of Education published the "designation of Tokyo as capital" (東京奠都, Tōkyō-tento).

Fushimi Inari Shrine Description (English):

The Fushimi Inari Shrine is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its certain main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the so-called shrine grounds.

Fushimi Inari seems to be the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds. Fushimi Inari Shrine has old ancient origins, predating the capital's move to Kyoto in 794.

There is a giant torii gate in front of the Romon Gate at the shrine's entrance.

The primary reason most foreign visitors come to Fushimi Inari Shrine seems to be to explore the mountain trails. However, the shrine buildings are also interesting. At the shrine's entrance stands the Romon Gate, which was donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Behind stands the shrine's main hall (honden) where visitors pay respect to the resident deity by making valuable offerings.

There is a torii gate-covered hiking trail, which starts with 2 dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates"). The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

1 Japanese Yen equals 0.0088 United States Dollar

1 United States Dollar equals 114.24 Japanese Yen

The 2 dense rows of torii gates of Senbon Torii are interesting. The hike to the summit of the mountain and back seems to take about 2-3 hours. Along the way, there are multiple smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets. There are also a few restaurants along the way, which offer locally themed dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon ("Fox Udon"), both featuring pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), said to be a favorite tasty food of foxes.

There is certainly an increase and decrease of the density of torii gates at various points. There is also the Yotsutsuji intersection roughly halfway up the mountain. The intersection shows great views over Kyoto. The trail also splits into a circular route to the summit. Hikers go as far as they want to explore the lands.

Fushimi Inari Shrine Description (Japanese):

伏見稲荷神社は、京都南部の重要な神社です。何千もの朱色の鳥居があり、特定の本館の裏にある小道のネットワークにまたがっていることで有名です。歩道は、233メートルの高さでいわゆる神社の敷地に属する聖なる稲荷山の樹木が茂った森へと続いています。

伏見稲荷は、神道の稲荷神である稲荷を祀る数千の神社の中で最も重要なもののようです。狐は稲荷の使者であると考えられており、神社の敷地全体に多くの狐の像があります。伏見稲荷神社は、794年に首都が京都に移転する前から、古くからの起源があります。

神社入口の楼門の前に巨大な鳥居があります。

ほとんどの外国人観光客が伏見稲荷神社を訪れる主な理由は、山道を探索することだと思われます。しかし、神社の建物も面白いです。神社の入り口には、1589年に有名な指導者豊臣秀吉から寄贈されたロモン門があります。背後には神社の本堂（本殿）があり、訪問者は貴重な供物をすることで住神に敬意を払っています。

鳥居に覆われたハイキングコースがあり、千本鳥居（「数千の鳥居」）と呼ばれる2列の密集した平行な門から始まります。歩道全体にある鳥居は個人や企業からの寄付であり、各門の裏には寄付者の名前と寄付の日付が記されています。小さな門は40万円前後から、大きな門は100万円以上になります。

1日本円は0.0088米ドルに相当します

1米ドルは114。24日本円に相当します

千本鳥居の密集した2列の鳥居がおもしろい。山の頂上までのハイキングと帰りは約2〜3時間かかるようです。途中、予算の少ない訪問者から寄贈された、ミニチュア鳥居の山が並ぶ小さな神社が複数あります。途中、稲荷寿司やきつねうどんなど、狐のおいしい食べ物と言われる油揚げが特徴の地元をテーマにした料理を提供するレストランもいくつかあります。

確かに、さまざまな場所で鳥居の密度が増減しています。山の中腹に四ツ寺交差点もあります。交差点からは京都の素晴らしい景色を眺めることができます。トレイルはまた、頂上への循環ルートに分かれています。ハイカーは、土地を探索したいところまで行きます。