Again, we could have spent many, many hours here to properly see and appreciate everything.
And all of what's been pictured so far are just the elements of the shrine at the base of the mountain. Now, we go up.
This is the feature that really makes Fushimi Inari-taisha so astonishing: pathways to the top of the mountain that are almost completely enclosed by one torii right after another.
I found this endlessly spellbinding.
The gates are paid for by businesses or wealthy individuals as prayers for success. On the left leg are the names of the sponsors, and on the right are the start dates of the sponsorship. The cost of purchasing one of these large gates is apparently into five figures.
A shot from outside this pathway, with Shinto stone lanterns, or toro, on the left.
It got darker and lighter along the way, depending on the thickness of the surrounding trees and the spacing between the gates. |
