{"id":7186,"date":"2014-01-19T22:48:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-19T14:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=7186"},"modified":"2014-06-18T12:57:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T04:57:06","slug":"japan-2013-part-6-day-6-fushimi-inari-shrine-%e4%bc%8f%e8%a6%8b%e7%a8%b2%e8%8d%b7%e5%a4%a7%e7%a4%be-tofukuji-%e6%9d%b1%e7%a6%8f%e5%af%ba-gion-%e7%a5%87%e5%9c%92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=7186","title":{"rendered":"Japan 2013 Part 6 : Day 6 \u2013 Fushimi Inari Shrine \u4f0f\u898b\u7a32\u8377\u5927\u793e, Tofukuji \u6771\u798f\u5bfa, Gion \u7947\u5712"},"content":{"rendered":"

The posts and summary for the whole trip, can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2665November 27th Wednesday\u2665<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Our last full day in Kyoto, and we decided to visit 2 more temples, Fushimi Inari Shrine \u4f0f\u898b\u7a32\u8377\u5927\u793e<\/a><\/strong> and Tofukuji \u6771\u798f\u5bfa<\/strong> which is on the same JR Nara Line, and one station away from another. <\/p>\n

To be honest, if I were to plan for the holiday again, I would skip Nijo Castle, and probably visit a few temples less. We had in total visited 8 temples this trip! Way too many. Unfortunately, I can’t turn back time, but will learn from this trip.<\/p>\n

From Wiki<\/a> –
\nFushimi Inari Taisha \u4f0f\u898b\u7a32\u8377\u5927\u793e<\/strong>, famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates (\u9ce5\u5c45), is the head shrine of Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres above sea level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines.<\/p>\n

Since early Japan Inari was seen as the patron of business, and merchants and manufacturers have traditionally worshipped Inari. Each of the torii at Fushimi Inari Taisha is donated by a Japanese business. First and foremost, though, Inari is the god of rice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Guess maybe it’s a shrine for patron of business, and red is an auspicious colour, we see red everywhere.
\n\"Lanterns<\/p>\n

\"Lanterns<\/p>\n

\"Fushimi<\/p>\n

A Taiwanese wishing (on her wishing plague or Ema \u7d75\u99ac) she would pass her exams and become an official teacher soon. Hope her wish is granted!
\n\"Wishing<\/p>\n

There were bunches of threaded origami cranes hung at the wishing board. All the best to them too.
\n\"Origami<\/p>\n

For us non-believer, we just rang the bell at the shrine for good luck.
\n\"Making<\/p>\n

Statue of foxes, which are the messenger of Inari, are found around the shrine.
\n\"Inari<\/p>\n

\"Inari<\/p>\n

Even the Ema (\u7d75\u99ac) or the wishing plagues are in the shape of foxes.
\n\"Fox<\/p>\n

The trail leading up the Inari mountain is lined with torii gates (\u9ce5\u5c45).
\n\"Torii<\/p>\n

\"Torii<\/p>\n

With the donors named written at the back, as well as the date the torii is donated.
\n\"Torii<\/p>\n

\"Fushimi<\/p>\n

After Fushimi Inari Shrine, we headed towards Tofukuji \u6771\u798f\u5bfa<\/strong><\/a>, which is 1 JR station away. <\/p>\n

It’s supposed to be another good place to view autumn leaves; but by this time, seriously, it was just another temple to me, I wasn’t really enjoying myself. Moreover, it was so crowded at the temple.
\n\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Zen<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

\"Autumn<\/p>\n

I was so glad the temple visit was over, as it was a super cold day.
\n\"Girls<\/p>\n

Thank goodness for a sweet stall set up opposite the temple, which offered complimentary hot tea, seats around a couple of heaters, and free access to the samples of the various sweets they were selling.
\n\"Sweet<\/p>\n

Since it was our last night in Kyoto, we all wanted to go back to Gion \u7947\u5712<\/strong> for some shopping. Unfortunately, it started raining when we reached there. <\/p>\n

We found a yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant for dinner, which didn’t have most of what we wanted. So we had a quick bite and left. The rain subsided a bit, but it was still wet.<\/p>\n

Yasaka Shrine \u516b\u5742\u795e\u793e<\/a>, Yasaka Jinja), also known as Gion Shrine seemed interesting, but nope, I wasn’t visiting another temple!
\n\"Yasaka<\/p>\n

I stood outside the shrine with the girls while the hubs went into to have a quick look, there, we looked out to Shijo \uff08\u56db\u6761\u901a\uff09junction at Gion.
\n\"Shijo<\/p>\n

While we were shopping, we were very lucky to spot a big group of Geishas walking out from Hanamikoji Dori \u82b1\u898b\u5c0f\u8def\u901a<\/strong>, they were catching cabs and seemed like they were heading to some function which invited\/hired (ok, I don’t know how this Geisha thing works) all of them.
\n\"Geisha<\/p>\n

After shopping (not that we did much), as we were not satisfied with our earlier dinner, we went searching for another restaurant.
\n\"\u8471\u3084\u5e73\u5409\"<\/p>\n

We chose Heikichi Negiya aka the Heikichi Onion Shop \u8471\u3084\u5e73\u5409<\/a>, a restaurant which featured mostly spring onion or onion dishes.<\/p>\n

\"\u8471\u3084\u5e73\u5409\"<\/p>\n

\"Yuba<\/p>\n

This is some special grilled onion, a recommended dish, but to me it was just another white onion.
\n\"The<\/p>\n

Their yakitori was better than the earlier place that we went to though.
\n\"Yakitori<\/p>\n

Then it was back to the hotel to pack for our next stop. <\/p>\n

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