May 4, 2014
Today I went to Fushimi-Inari with a special friend and had a great time. The highlight of the day was the sunset from top of the smaller peak on the way down from the shrine that was on top of the mountain. The way to the shrine on the top was full of smaller Shinto shrines, there were so many of them that it as impossible to count. Surely, it did live up to its name.
The Fushimi-Inari station is where you get off to get there from Hieqkatashi or the Makino station which are close to Kansai Gaidai University and the Seminar House. If you’re in the Kansai Gaidai program you will probably know what I am talking about.
The climb up was about 2 leisurely hours with many pitstops and picture breaks. To be honest, I am not one who likes to take pictures of myself that much but the view here was so amazing that I had to give in.
There were occasional bamboo grooves on the way (there’s another special place in Kyoto for bamboo groves, FYI Arashiyama) that complemented the scenery and the magnificence of the gates to heaven AKA a Torii gate.
If you happen to there by any chance, the sunset is a must see – make sure you get a sunny day to go to and plan to ascend at least 3 hours before the forecasted sunset that day.