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The 1000-gated shrine

The 100 gate shrine

I decided to take my man on a magical mystery tour to introduce him to some of Kyoto’s most famous sites. Despite being a tourist myself I really don’t like touristy places, but most places that have a lot of tourists are swamped for a good reason, and Fushimi Inari is no different. We opted to go on a weekday, when everyone else was at work, and had most of the mountainside to ourselves.

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Fushimi Inari is quite an extraordinary place. A few miles south of Kyoto, it is home to over 1000 red torii shrine gates, which weave around the mountainside.

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‘Inari’ is the name of the god of rice, a diet staple and fundamental part of Japanese life. There are thousands of Inari shrines across the country but the one at Fushimi is the most famous.

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It was founded twelve centuries ago, and remains an active part of the community. Nearly every single one of the 1000+ cinnabar red shrine gates are ‘sponsored’ by local businesses.

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But when a company’s name is written in beautiful flowing kanji lettering, it somehow doesn’t feel commercial at all. Each of them offer prayers for prosperity – and some of them pay as much as $150,000 for the privilege!

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I visited with my parents many years ago and we purchased a tiny red model gate from the shrine shop and hid it in the forest, off the mountain path.

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We searched for it but couldn’t find it this time round – I like to think that a cheeky wild monkey moved it and uses it as the entrance to his little house in the trees…

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