SOUTHERN KYOTO
Southern Kyoto Attractions including Fushimi Inari Shrine made famous in the film "Memoirs of a Geisha".
The torii at Fushimi-Inari-taisha Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社 Fushimi-Inari-taisha). Another of Kyoto's often-overlooked jewels, about twenty-minutes to the south of Kyoto. Dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of cereals, Fushimi-Inari-taisha is the head shrine (taisha) for 40,000 Inari shrines across Japan. Stretching 230 meters up the hill behind it are hundreds of bright red torii (gates). A visitor could easily spend several hours walking up the hillside, taking in the beautiful views of the city of Kyoto and walking through the torii, which appear luminescent in the late afternoon sun. Countless stone foxes, also referred to as Inari, are also dotted along the path.
Fushimi Inari Taisha
Approaching the shrine, local delicacies are sold
at the roadside, including barbecued sparrow and inari-sushi
(sweetened sushi rice wrapped in fried tofu), which is said to be
the favourite food of the fox.
Admission is free. Be warned, the shrine is located close to Fushimi
Inari and Inari stations, but is nowhere near Fushimi station! The
easiest way to get here is to take the JR Nara line from
Kyoto Station to Inari station, which exits immediately opposite the
entrance to the shrine.
(Article based on Wikitravel article by Wikitravel users Nzpcmad, Jose Ramos, John Grillo, Brian Kurkoski, Howard Banwell, Mary and Yann Forget, Jpatokal, Huttite, Miknon and MykReeve. Artilce used under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.)
