Our final stop of Kyoto was Fushimi Inari-taisha. I frankly knew nothing about this temple except learning about it from the Memoirs of Geisha. My first visit to Kyoto in 2008 did not leave me any impression of this gorgeous spot so I'd call this my first visit. The thousand torii gates of my dreams...
As the regular check-out hours in Japan tends to be around 10 a.m., we had to leave for Fushimi as early as 7 a.m. to avoid crowd aas well as to get back on time.
Being greeted by Komatsu Nana in the morning ain't too bad, and I've been trying hard to capture the diligent conductors turning their heads upon every departure /salutes
Fushimi is a quiet little town early in the morning with vendors setting up their stalls along the streets. We lucked out on the weather this time; it remained gloomy after last night's drizzle which gave the brightly-colored shrine an extra boost of contrast against the dark clouds.
I don't intend to bore you with a lot of photos of similar subject; but there simply is no way to avoid the shiny toriis when shooting in a shrine famous for its abundance in toriis. I was kinda upset that the colors didn't turn out really gorgeous in my hands -hence the black and whites. A really interesting place to challenge your patience for a humanless photo. I gave up real quick and asked my sister to block every stranger in sight.
Aren't they just the most adorable kazoku ever? The ojiisan was really nice and allowed me to have a shot of the puppies (well we basically hiked the same path)
I didn't know foxes act as the messengers before reading up Wikipedia; but I have always liked them in the anime/games I watched/played. People have been really creative with the emas and it was really fun just looking at them.
It was my first time realizing that the male counterparts of mikos (shrine maidens) wear green instead of red; how interesting!
Exiting the shrine we found ourselves back at the street filled with stalls. This funny uncle was selling something we've never seen (meat-wrapped onigiri) so we got one with grilled cheese topping before continuing our journey back to Shijo.
Crossing our second railway was another moment worth remembering. I guess I became a railway enthusiast after watching Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and started obsessing over the signs and tracks and trains. It was like an anime came true: too good to be real.
Fushimi station was surprisingly nicely decorated (how could I not notice upon arrival!?) with kitsune and hiragana decor with eye-popping red pillars. I knew I'm in big trouble if I live in Japan -just imagine how many train stations I have to shoot?
Goodbye Fushimi, time to head back.
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