Japan: October 2024: Day 4: Fushimi Inara Taisha

Japan

Oct 2024: Day 4: Fushimi Inara Taisha

Don't take this stupid train. Or if you do, be aware of what train pass you're buying at least.

Heading through a crowd of hungry tourists.

The start of Fushimi Inara Taisha's thousand gates.

Different perspective.

Posing begins on day 2 in Kyoto.

Found a bamboo forest if you go right from one of the interesetions/gaps in the gates.

Posing among the forest and the stones.

So green.

A stone gate instead of a red wooden one.

One of many smaller shrines within Fushimi Inara Taisha.

Found a non-fenced area of bamboo forest/trail.

The bamboo are so tall.

How many poses can we come up with today?

Big smiles surrounded by the forest.

Looking up, part 2.

Big smiles.

Selfie time.

Hiking further up the mountain.

The gates are endless.

Not even halfway?

Another shrine.

Candles everywhere.

The final loop to the to starts here. We were tired.

View from the bottom of the final loop to the top.

Heading back down via a different path.

Cats of Fushimi Inara Taisha are apparetnly a thing.

Old school slide that must be connected to a school.

Little neighborhood shrines on the walk down.

And back to the entrance.

Prayer cards and paper cranes.

Quick stop for a snack.

Snacking, part 2.

Imitation crab skewers were okay. Fun to try once but that's about it.

Sweet potato and butter cracker is huge.

Posing by the train.

Chirashi for dinner.

Crab roe.

Wakasaya Sanjoten is probably crazy busy at lunch.

Chirashi is so cheap.

Shinkyogoku Shopping Street, one of the streets in the same area as Teramachi Shopping Street.

Inside the various streets making up the Teramachi Shopping Street area.

Sanjo Meiten-gai, one of the streets in the same area as Teramachi Shopping Street.

Inside the various streets making up the Teramachi Shopping Street area.

Today's plan to go to Nara was thwarted by the fact that the train pass we had purchased had some restrictions on it we didn't understand. We ended up on three different trains, the first of which would probably have gotten us there an hour later than we expected, the second was not a train we could board, and the third was a train that required reservations and we didn't have a reservation, nor could we get one on it because it was sold out. In the end, a good two or three hours later, we gave up and decided to go to Fushimi Inara Taisha in Kyoto instead, since our train pass did at least go there. *facepalm*

Fushimi Inara Taisha's thousand gates are amazing, although definitely less so when crowded with many thousands of tourists. If anything, wandering some of the parallel paths outside of the gates themselves is more enjoyable, as was the bamboo grove (or two) we found, along with an area of stone structures that might have been a cemetery in the forest? The trek up to the top is pretty serious as well; not difficult at all per se, but we decidedly did not come prepared, and ended up turning around at the start of the final loop to the top. Sun, lack of water, and heat got to us, plus the lack of food-- which we rectified afterwards at a little chicken yakitori and oyster stall not far away from the train station, then with a slightly ridiculous imitation crab stick and massively ridiculous sweet potato and yam cracker that kind of reminded me of a giant fortune cookie in terms of taste and texture.

Took one last ride using the Kansai Railway Pass that we bought to get back to the hotel, went shopping, then debated crashing... but instead wandered over to a nearby shopping street near the more-famous Nishiki Market for a quick dinner of crab and chirashi. Wasn't bad but given the late hour almost everything was closed, so our exploration was limited.