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- Ichiro's original frozen text page - Fushimi Inari Taisha(Original)
There are more than 4 million Inari shrines all over Japan. Fushimi Inari Taisha is the main shrine.
There also was a small Inari shrine near our house, where I lived when I was a small boy. Everyone knows the Inari shrine because there are "fox" statues in stead of shishi, or "niou"(guardians of the temple), as at a usual shrine. Inari Shrine considers the fox a messenger of God. The foxes are white so people can't see them.
In Japan, foxes have also been thought to cheat people and to do something wrong to us (like the folk tale "Little Red Riding Hood" )so we Japanese have mixed feelings about foxes.
In the Fushimi Inari Taisha there are many fox statues, but this shrine is famous for its "Thousand Torii". Practically speaking, it is said that there are more than a million torii in this shrine!
From the Edo period, people who fullfilled their hope dedicated "torii" to this shrine with their names. In Japanese, "fullfill the hope" is "negai" (hope), "ga" (is), "kanau" (fullfilled), and "kanau" has another meaning "go through". So people thanked them that "their hope went through" and "went through" became "torii", a kind of "gate", and they dedicated torii.
I went to Fushimiinari Taisha after the auction in Nogi Shrine. I was astonished to see their huge scale!
When I heard that a customer was scared when she lost the way in the shrine, I understood her feeling, but I thought it might be because she was not familiar with Japan yet.
I really understood her feeling after visiting there. Vivid vermillion torii continue as if they were an endless path on the mountain. There also are cafes beside the path. From the entrance, it takes nearly an hour to reach the highest place! Along the torii path there are many small shrines and, of course, there are many foxes!
The further up I went, I met fewer visitors. If it was in the evening and getting darker, the vermillion torii would look like magical and endless gates to a mystery world. The foxes' faces would look evil as if they were going to cheat you. In addition, the signs and maps beside the path are written in unreadable Japanese...like incantations. In those circumstances I would also be scared!
If I were in that situation in an unfamiliar country, I would have panicked without a doubt!
Visiting Fushimi Inari Taish will indeed be a completely different experience for you although there are many shrines and temples in Japan.
Information †
Map of Kyoto
Official page ( only Japanese )
http://inari.jp/
Access
5 Minutes walk from Inari Station of the JR Nara Line
5 Minutes walk from Fushimi Inari Station of the Keihan Line
Comment from YOU! †
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- Inari is a fox deity commonly seen as a protector of the temples where they are worshipped at. They're also seen as guiding figures. Not wolves. -- Ann-desu?
- Seren san, G san - I also saw the movie, but I forgot the scene. However, it had to be here! -- Ichiro
- Valerie san,OH! YES! It was WOLF! NOT FOX! -- Ichiro
- Lee san! Please visit and enjoy Japan again soon! -- Ichiro
- Vona san --- I am male-- ??? Why am I female? -- Ichiro
- Thank you Stephanie san, Joan san! I can believe my English has a kind of charm??? I would like to leave my original text in our blog, and make more good English here. Because I would like to make this site useful for everyone. -- Ichiro
- Thank you very much for your comments Seren san, Virginia san, and ALL! -- Ichiro
- JAPAN IS SO BEAUTIFUL! I think Japan has the most beautiful culture out of any other country. Your pictures are so pretty and your newsletters are very helpful and interesting. Thank you for helping me plan out my trip to the great Nippon koku!!!.....That does look like the row of torii that Chiyo as running through** -- Seren?
- Thank you for most interesting newletter. Here in London it is the end of the sakura season. We have 3 kinds: double flower which is very pink and the flowers grow in bunches; single flowers which are almost white, and weeping cherry, which has long thin branches that hang to the ground. I don't what kind of cherry tree is in Japan. About foxes: the animal in Little Red Riding Hood is a wolf. But in a Greek story by the ancient writer Aesop, there is a story about called Fox and Grapes. He tries to reach them but can't and so he says 'they were probably sour.'' There is also the proverb 'Wily like a fox' meaning someone is clever but possibly also not entirely honest So Europeans also have fox folklore about these very clever animals. Have a good Golden Week. -- Valerie?
- The second photo looks like the tunnel the chlld Sayuri ran through in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha -- G?
- (Laughing) I just read the post and I made a typing mistake..."me" instead of "my". I also wanted to say that I've seen photos like your second one in books and I would love to see these spectacular torii one day. I visited Japan for two weeks while in Korea in 1998 and hope to come back again some day in the not too distant future! -- Lee Brinegar?
- I lived in Korea for 3 years and taught English there. I used to do a lot of editing for my students...especially a group of doctors who submitted journal articles for publications. So, I got a bit carried away in my editing of your wonderful article! You both have such tremendous skill with English. I admire you so with your ability to communicate in a language so different from Japanese. Hopefully, me little editing exercise here will be helpful to you. I enjoy doing it and kind of miss it. It tests my knowledge of English...which certainly is far from perfect!!! -- Lee Brinegar?
- I also took the liberty of changing wording, etc., although I agree with Stephanie, that is absolutely charming as it is! -- Joan McGinnis?
- I took liberty of changing the pronoun "boy" (male) to "Girl" (female) as i know Ichiro is a lovely woman! You know how much I love traveling with you in pictures and words through the wonders of Japan! The Tori tunnel is magical and I adore the foxes!!!! Hugs Vona -- Vona?
- Your emails are always fascinating and illuminating, I would like so much to visit Japan as a result. But I would hate to see your English being corrected, it adds so much to the charm of the whole. -- stephanie lyon?
- Stupendous photos, fascinating text, many thanks for sharing Japanese culture with us. -- virginia higginbotham?
Original text is written by Ichiro 25th April 2009.
You can read the original text in this frozen page Fushimi Inari Taisha(Original)
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