Thousand vermilion torii gates of Fushimi Inari Shrine quickly became one of my favorite spots in Kyoto, Japan, especially during the beautiful cherry blossom season.
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Let’s Pegas Viet Nam Travel share everything you need to know about how to visit Fushimi Inari – how to get to Fushimi Inari Shrine, what to do, and some helpful tips to plan your visit.
About Fushimi Inari Shrine
Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) 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 main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds.
Fushimi Inari is 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 ancient origins, predating the capital’s move to Kyoto in 794.
While the primary reason most foreign visitors come to Fushimi Inari Shrine is to explore the mountain trails, the shrine buildings themselves are also attractive. 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 all visitors are encouraged to pay respect to the resident deity by making a small offering.
At the very back of the shrine’s main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate-covered hiking trail, which starts with two 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 donation amount starts around 400,000 yen for a smaller gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.
Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha)
Getting there and around
Fushimi Inari Shrine is located just outside JR Inari Station, the second station from Kyoto Station along the JR Nara Line (5 minutes, 150 yen one way from Kyoto Station, not served by rapid trains). The shrine can also be reached in a short walk from Fushimi Inari Station along the Keihan Main Line.
Fushimi Inari Shrine
History of Fushimi Inari Shrine
The origin of Fushimi Inari Taisha is described in Yamashirokoku Fudoki, an ancient report on provincial culture, geography and oral tradition that was presented to the emperor. Irogu no Hatanokimi, an ancestor of Hatanonakatsue no Imiki, is said to have shot a rice cake, which turned into a swan and flew away. Eventually the swan landed on a peak of a mountain, where an auspicious omen occurred and rice grew. Inari is named for this miracle (“ina” is Japanese for “rice”). It has also been described in other ancient texts, which state that priests such as Hatauji have held spring and autumn festivals at the shrine ever since the deity Inari Okami was enshrined on a plateau in the Inari Mitsugamine area during the Wado era (708-715).
An ancient shrine text also says that Irogu no Hatanokimi, a regarded figure in what is now the Fukakusa area of Kyoto, received an imperial order from Empress Genmei to enshrine three deities in three mountains on the first Day of the Horse of the second month of 711. That year, the farmers were blessed with great harvests of grains and much silk from their silkworms.
This shows that Fushimi Inari Taisha and the Fukakusa area are closely connected to Hatauji, and that our deity has been enshrined since the first Day of the Horse in the second month of 711. But there is reason to believe that our faith dates back even further than this
History of Fushimi Inari Shrine
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