Wow Place #282: Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan
When I think of Asia, I think of the color red. Red temples. Red palaces. And most especially, red gates. I wonder why there’s so much red?
A brief internet query returned a slew of contradictory explanations. According to one site, red is the symbol of bravery. It’s the color of blood, the color of sacrifice. According to another, the color red scares away evil spirits. A third site suggested that red is the color of life, happiness, warmth, and auspiciousness. It’s also the color of the sun, which brings the earth life, warmth and vitality.
Which one is the real explanation? Who knows! But there’s no denying that there’s a LOT of red in Asia, and perhaps nowhere more so than at Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, Japan.
Drawing millions of visitors a year, the shrine was founded way back in AD 711 and began receiving imperial patronage in 965. According to legend, a man is said to have shot a rice cake, which turned into a swan and flew away. (I hate when that happens!) Eventually, the swan landed on a peak of a mountain, where an auspicious omen occurred and rice began to grow. The god (“kami”) Inari is named for this miracle (“ina” means “rice.”) Today, Inari, is known as a deity of business, prosperity of industries, safety of households, safety in traffic, and improvement in the performing arts.
Tucked into the base of a mountain, Fushimi Inari Taisha’s most-impressive feature is its long, windy trail up the hillside, leading to a variety of smaller shrines and look-out points. The hike up the mountain takes about 2 hours one way and is characterized by its MANY, many red torii gates – roughly 10,000 of them – donated mostly by Japanese businessmen.
One of the highlights of this trail is the “Senbon Torii” – 800 gates, set in a row, back to back, creating the impression of a bright, red tunnel.
Although my nephew, Amir, and I don’t walk all the way to the peak of the mountain, we do follow the path up the hill for a good 20 minutes or so. It’s a gorgeous, eminently “exotic” place. With its overwhelming preponderance of RED, Fushimi-Inari screams, “Welcome to the Far East, Land of Enchantment!” At least, that’s what I feel. For others unaccustomed to steep mountain hiking, I can imagine the sensation to be more like “blood, sacrifice and evil spirits.” Myself, I’m just hoping my visit to the shrine will bring me “safety in traffic”. “Oh Inari kami, please get me home safely from rush hour traffic on Highway 101.”
(Can praying to mountain gods bring safety and prosperity? That’s a question way above my pay grade. But perhaps if you believe something to be true, good things will manifest for you. I certainly believe in the power of positive thinking. By contrast, we all know someone in our life who is always looking at the dark side of things – and then keeps on having accidents, or getting sick or or drawing misfortune. It’s a strange phenomenon. I say, believe what you want to believe – do it wholeheartedly – but keep it positive. Believing in something negative like voodoo probably works as well – but you can bet that kind of negativity will draw unwanted rebound effects. To quote the Dos Equis guy, “Stay upbeat my friends.”
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