Kyoto / Fushimi-Inari

Lucky me! I had a little time off in Kyoto. I don’t come here much and there are so many amazing sites here, lots of shrines and temples. I visited Fushimi-Inari and Shimogamo-shrine this time. 

Fushimi-Inari in Kyoto is one of the most important Inari shrine. White foxes are the icons for those kind of shrine. Those fox are believed as a messenger from gods. Ukanomitama is the god enshrined at Inari shrine, and called "Oinari-sama" casually. There are many Inari shrines all over Japan. Actually, there was a tiny shrine inside of my relative's property. Once a month, an old prayer lady came and spent a half an hour chanting. I was always sent to buy some sweets as a gift for god every time the prayer came. I didn't realize it was unusual, I liked to have her as a kid because we can share the sweets afterwards! When I was about 10 years old, some Do-It-Yourself fortune telling game became a fad. You put your finger on a coin with a sheet of paper written YES or NO, then ask questions and your finger moves depends on the answer. I was told I should NOT do that nearby their house as we were close to this fox shrine, it could be too powerful and fox won’t leave….something like that….there was not much explanation but I sure believed it and it totally scared me off!

Fox grading the gate

Back to Fushimi-Inari in Kyoto. Inari shrines are widely build all over Japan as it started as asking / praying for good harvest. It is said there are around 30,000 Inari shrines in Japan and Fushim-Inari is the head shrine. As I research about Inari and shrine, I found out the color of vermillion red  is considered an amulet against evil forces, and used to preserve wood at the same time since ancient times. The whole Inari mountain is dedicated to Inari belief, with so many red Torii (gates), which I would like to re-visit and walk around.

Japan has very unique belief system (?), and customs. From ancient time Shinto (that's what we call it now) was widely believed as it connects any living and non-living creature and human being coexisting. In Shinto, everything has a soul, everything is a god, like a stone and tree, sky above us. I feel like this is kind of relating to human god mixture idea who acts as god and protect people etc. Then Buddhism was brought in as a new belief. Till the end of Edo period, samurai period, these two different religious beliefs had supported each other and existed within the same properties (except some regional accidents). However, there was a movement to separate them and destroy its co-existing way in Meiji period, and sadly many Buddhism temples and statues were destroyed. The movement calmed down after short while and we still have both religious sites everywhere. We, as Japanese, know there are shrines and temples and visit them both. I never thought about or wondered where they come from...it’s natural to have both. It’s like visiting friend A and friend B, no better or superior at least for me. By checking those facts, I understand more about how they used to and now co-exisist. We even celebrate Christmas for no religious reason (for most of Japanese), but more like an event to get together or exchange gifts.  It is very interesting. In my opinion, gods are great people (folks?) so they should get along as friends…Don’t you think so?

I only went up to the main shrine in the middle