Torii leading to the outer shrine

• Affiliation : Shinto
• Deity : Uka-no-Mitama-no-Ōkami, et al. as Inari Ōkami
• Type : Inari Shrine
• Date established : 711
• Fushimi Inari-taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is the head shrine of the kami Inari located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto
• The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari which is 233 metres (764 ft) above sea level and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines which span 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) and take approximately 2 hours to walk up
• Inari was originally and remains primarily the kami of rice and agriculture, but merchants and manufacturers also worship Inari as the patron of business
• Each of Fushimi Inari-taisha’s roughly thousand torii was donated by a Japanese business
• Owing to the popularity of Inari’s division and re-enshrinement, this shrine is said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines (分社 bunsha) throughout Japan

Front view of the haiden

A torii path across the mountain from the side

honden

The main gate

 

 

What are the structures in the Fushimi Inari-taisha

• The earliest structures were built in 711 on the Inariyama hill in southwestern Kyoto, but the shrine was re-located in 816 on the request of the monk Kūkai
• The main shrine structure was built in 1499
• At the bottom of the hill are the main gate (楼門, rōmon, “tower gate”) and the main shrine (御本殿, go-honden)
• Behind them, in the middle of the mountain, the inner shrine (奥宮, okumiya) is reachable by a path lined with thousands of torii. To the top of the mountain are tens of thousands of mounds (塚, tsuka) for private worship

What are the rows of Torii gates ? The Senbon Torii ?

• The highlight of the shrine is the rows of torii gates, known as Senbon Torii
• The custom to donate a torii started to spread since the Edo period (1603 – 1868) to get a wish to become true or to thank for a wish that became true
• Along the main path there are around 1,000 torii gates

Fox

• Foxes (kitsune), regarded as the messengers, are often found in Inari shrines
• One attribute is a key (for the rice granary) in their mouths
• Unlike most Shinto shrines, Fushimi Inari-taisha, in keeping with typical Inari shrines, has an open view of the main object of worship (a mirror)
• A drawing in Kiyoshi Nozaki’s Kitsune : Japan’s Fox of Mystery, Romance and Humor in 1786 depicting the shrine says that its two-story entry gate was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
• The shrine draws several million worshipers over the Japanese New Year, 2.69 million for 3 days in 2006 reported by the police, the most in western Japan

Fox holding a key in its mouth, at the main gate of the Fushimi Inari shrineFox holding a jewel in its mouth at the main gate of the Fushimi Inari shrineFox sculpture in Fushimi Inari-taisha shrineFox fountain in Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine

Another view of the fox fountain 

Fox altar in Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine

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Access & Enviorons

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• The shrine is just outside the Inari Station on the Nara Line of the West Japan Railway Company (JR), a five-minute ride from Kyoto Station
• It is a short walk from Fushimi-Inari Station on the Main Line of the Keihan Electric Railway
• The shrine is open 24 hours with both the approach to the shrine and the Honden (本殿, main hall) itself illuminated all night
• There is no entrance fee
• In the approach to the shrine are a number of sweet shops selling tsujiura senbei (辻占煎餅), a form of fortune cookie dating at least to the 19th century, and which are believed by some to be the origin of the American fortune cookie