Today I took a short trip on the train from Kyoto to Inari.
When you get off the train in Inari Station, turn left, then immediately up the first road on your right you’ll see the first two of 10,000 Torii gates winding up the hillside on which the shrine is built.
Once you’ve climbed to the top of the hill you can look back to where you started and out over the whole of Kyoto.
See the same two gates in the distance?
That photo is taken with my zoom lens at full stretch. Look what happens as I pull it back up.
……and finally…..with minimum zoom…..(can you still see the gates?)
This shrine was originally dedicated to the God of rice, but is now more generally dedicated to prosperity. Each of the 10000 gates is donated by an individual or business hoping for prosperity. Foxes are believed to be the animals which guard the shrine and there are lots of stone ones to be seen (but I didn’t see any live ones).
The gates wind up and up the hillside. It’s quite a climb, especially on day like today when the temperature was 26C, but the gates are so close together that they form long shaded tunnels.
The gates thread their way through the wooded hillside and near the top you can wander off through forest paths…
I have never experienced anything quite like this. I’ve talked before about “emerveillement” and I strongly believe we need for re-enchantment in our overly materialist attitude to world. Places like this are known as sacred places. To walk in them, to sit in them, to breathe and listen and look around in them, it’s not hard to understand why. Magical.
Thank you, Doc, for bringing me here. I especially like the photo at the end. I’ve been thinking a lot about peering into eternity lately…
These photos are just completely gorgeous! Gave them a stumble 🙂
Amy
xx
Love the gates and the light ………..agree with you about sacred places too.
I used to escape in my lunch break to the garden at St Mungos museum of religion behind the Royal infirmary .The zen garden was my favouite place. I like the idea of walking through structures that are so close to nature ……..being inside and outside at the same time.
Bob, I am SOOO envious – all these opportunities you have to visit Japan, a country which I’ve wanted to see for ages. Eating sushi from Pret a Manger in Sauchiehall Street doesn’t come close.
I know what you mean about sacred places. Iona is one place which does it for me. I remember one visit there a couple of years ago, when I found that the magic and spirituality of the island was starting to affect me when the bus from the Oban ferry was still about 10 miles from Iona (and this despite the notorious grumpiness of the Mull bus drivers). George McLeod, who founded the Iona Community, described Iona as a “thin” place – I think what he meant was that it is a place where the boundary between this world and eternity is especially thin. I’ve no doubt that the shrine at Inari ( and, I’m sure, lots of other places in Japan) is exactly the same.
Konnichi wa.
Wonderful photos~ interesting website! Found you via Mrs. Chili. I lived in Japan for two wonderful years- miss some precious, piquant things about it. Have you read the children’s book Grandfather’s Journey, by Allen Say? It is beautiful and has held special meaning for me and my friends who lived in Japan as westerners. 🙂
@mrschili….glad to have brought you something good
@amy….thank you my love – your stumble brought over 600 views in a day – powerful stumbler you!!
@ian…yes, the inside/outside thing was really, really special. It was like walking in a different kind of a world.
@martin……I really, really hope that one day you will realise your dream and have a visit to japan. I can confirm that sushi from pret definitely does NOT come close!! (thanks for making me smile again!) Thank you so much for that George McLeod thought – what a wonderful way to describe these sacred places.
@jess….hi, and welcome! Don’t know that book. Thanks for the tip off….I’ll go explore