Feeling Old at Fushimi Inari - Kyoto

Famously known for their hundreds and thousands of iconic Tori gates, Fushimi Inari is a must-see Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the God of Rice. The foxes are said to be the messengers for Inari, hence the many statues scattered throughout. It is a World Heritage Site, and was also featured in Memoirs of a Geisha!

Wish we came earlier in the day (or later, as Fushimi Inari doesn't really have a closing time), because it was packed with tourists. Checked out the map to plan out our walk:

Before entering a shrine, there is always a fountain where you can wash your hands and rinse out your mouth. There is a specific order and way to do it, which I taught my friend.

And off into the gates we go. I got lucky with this shot by running ahead another group of people.

There were a lot of stairs, and that's an understatement. There are a few smaller shrines on the hike up, which we used as resting/picture-taking points. It was never our intention to go all the way to the top, but we gave it our best shot.

I've done this trail before, but now that I'm a few years older with weaker knees, it became an extreme struggle.

My first time here in 2012, my classmates and I made it about two thirds of the way up before deciding to descend by splitting off into a different path in the road. It led us into a residential area off the side of the mountain, and from there we spotted Kyoto tower in the distance:

Somehow we trekked all the way over to the tower, where we ended the night with some awesome hamburg steaks. Much more of adventure, and to this day I'm surprised by our determination to walk rather than simply take a train. It's a bit farther than it looks.

Back to Fushimi Inari in 2015...

A lot of students were on school trips and the whole time you could hear them complaining about the never ending stairs.

“More stairs?”

“STILL MORE STAIRS?”

“RACE YOU UP THE STAIRS!”

“SCREW YOU, YOU GO RUN THE STAIRS!!”

“Ugh… how much more…”

Leave it to the kids to make me feel old though. Despite voicing their fatigue, they were blasting up the stairs with tenacious intensity. I trailed behind them slowly, wishing I could harness a bit of their energy.

The view halfway up was okay. It was hitting early afternoon and getting incredibly humid, so we decided to head back down after this point hoping to make it to Kinkakuji in time before they closed (we didn't make it, ha).

One of my travelmates really wanted to try amazake (sweet rice wine), so we followed signs on the way down directing us to a small wooden house just off the main path. We only bought one to share between the 3 of us, but the lady was so sweet she brought us all some green tea anyway and make some small talk with us. The amazake had the consistency of porridge/oatmeal and came with a spoonful of ginger to add in.

In the end we settled on visiting my old stomping grounds, Teramachi near Shijo for some souvenir shopping and eating.

So, back on the trains we went. No walking.

Featured Photo: Foxes at Fushimi Inari, Kyoto Hours: Always open Transportation: Inari Station (we took a bus from our hostel)

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Feeling Old at Fushimi Inari - Kyoto