Fushimi Inari-taisha
If there was one valuable lesson I learn from Kyoto, it would be that ‘2 days 1 night’ is not enough, and I learned that with a short sharp pain.
As much as I’d like to visit Kiyomizu-dera, Ryōan-ji and The Golden Pavilion, this shrine that boasts thousands of torii gates was my second main highlight after Arashiyama bamboo grove.
I did a mistake by placing it as our last stop of the day and it didn’t help that the sun sets at 5 p.m. in autumn. Most pictures we took were either too dark or blur-not-on-purpose.
{Main gate, main entrance}
{Intentional lip color and clutch}
There is a twin of this route just right next to it and for a brief moment there I was reminded by life’s nature of how it is all about making decisions – something I actually hate doing, yet somehow managed to comprehend that kinda sad beauty of never knowing where your choice may lead to, or what the one you abandoned has to offer.
{The dark in the bright and vice versa}
Upon exiting the first batch of torii gates we came across a massive map:
Upon discovering it, I remember a conversation I had with Big Guy:
“But how high do you wanna climb?”. I sensed exhaustion in his question. “‘It all looks pretty much the same.” There, I sensed boredom.
It felt like someone just did an ALS ice bucket challenge on my burning passion to explore this new place we came all the way for and I was completely devastated.
As it was also getting dark, I decided we make a U-turn and that’s exactly how far we went up the shrine.
{Mini torii}
{That thing with flash}
{Solving differences by finding peace through obvious similarity between inanimate objects}
As you can see, Fushimi Inari will definitely be worth the visit and I’d recommend anyone to allocate more time to enjoy the hike up the hill.
I wish . . .
