If you have seen the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", this place will ring a bell to you. The scene showing Sayuri running through the red torii gates was shot in this place.
Scene from the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" - Young Sayuri running. |
In front of the shrine |
The hike starts from here. |
The girls are so happy :). |
The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies. You will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate (written in Japanese). The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate (source: www.japan-guide.com).
Along the way, you can see stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors.
You don't have to bring food and drinks with you in your hike. There are a few restaurants along the way which sell local dishes and drinks.
The foxes are regarded as the messengers of Inari. That's why you can find many stone fox statues across the shrine grounds.
The trails do not offer much variation beyond Yotsutsuji Intersection and the gate density decreases further. Since we didn't plan to go up to the mountain, we decided to stop our hike here (which is roughly half way up to the mountain). We took a rest and enjoyed the view of Kyoto from here, before going down.
These torii gate souvenirs for sale can be found at the entrance of the shrine.
Yotsutsuji Intersection |
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