Fushimi Inari Taisha

We planned a big site seeing day, starting with a stop at Rachel's namesake conbini: Lawson. After fueling up, we headed to Fushimi Inari Taisha. The thousand torii gates shrine actually has around 10,000 of the iconic red wooden arches. They represent a marker for transition from the secular to the sacred world. For myself, it was a marker between the slightly sweaty to the extremely sweaty world. The shrine consists of a temple at the base where foxes holding keys serve as gatekeepers. They are said to be the messengers of Inari Okami; the deity associated with rice and prosperity. The keys they hold are to granaries.
Heading to the top of Mt. Inari had us wind through thousands of torii gates and many small subshrines within. Every 10 minutes or so we'd also come up along a souvenir shop or vending machine. It's odd to see one next to a shrine, but honesty the Pocari Sweat did hit the spot on the humid day. That was a common theme with Japan; the unique juxtaposition or even contradiction of history meeting modern times.
We saw no monkeys or boars despite signs warning about them, but we did see a Bannana Spider and a Rainbow Skink. Looking back, I would say this was my favorite single shrine of the trip.Read more