Day 4: Kyoto: Fushimi Inari Shrine and Temple Grounds

Yet another rainy day in Kyoto. We were prepared for it this time, having seen the forecast, the choice was made to head to Fushimi Inari shrine. I had previously read advice that the temple is best photographed at sunset, though through conversation with a work colleague, he advised us that it’s an entire-days effort, and he was not wrong.

The main attraction of this Shrine is the “10 Thousand Torii Gates” all in varying shades of vermillion, depending on their age. Mum was joking that if there were 10,000 then I definitely photographed more than 9000 of them. I’m glad we budgeted the day, because it took about that long to climb to the top of the mountain through the many thousand gates.

Thankfully the crowds thinned the higher we went, this made those gorgeous images possible, despite the often torrential rain. Up higher we had misty air, wonderfully peaceful.

This was pretty much just a day of nonstop photos and some temple seeing. Heaps of easy steps led all through the temple grounds, it was just a matter of how much time there was to do it. Bathrooms were scarce which made for some hard climbing, but overall we had a great day out among the vermillion gates.

I’ll let the photos do the talking tonight…