The Memory Box: Kyoto - packed schedule with moments of serenity (part 3)

Day 9 - Fushimi Inari Taisha > Nijo Jinya > Tokyu Hands > Haruka Express > Kansai International Airport

I started out for Fushimi Inari Taisha at 7:00am, and because I missed some trains it ended up taking me almost 40 mins to get to the shrine.... :S when I did research I read that you can walk up the hill covered by vermilion (not red :D) torii gates and down in about 3 hours..... and I walked up the hill about 45 mins and didn't even get half way so I had to head back down without reaching the top, but I got a ton of photos already.

It was really nice to go there early in the morning. There were already quite a bit of tourists there that early as well, but as the area is so big you never feel like there's a crowd and you're always bound to get some time to yourself in the hall of tori gates where you can take some beautiful photos.

This shrine is for the god that governs fertility and industry so lots of local business owners will come to pay respect. The foxes that sit on the left and right of the shrine and tori gates are the "middle man" who carry your prayers to the god.

The whole shrine uses the same vermilion colour as the torii gates which make it so much more stunning.

Torii gates are used as a symbol for the entrance into a sacred place. As you get closer to the sacred place you will find more and more torii to symbolize that it's more and more holy. Fushimi Inari has a lot of torii gates because successful businesses have donated these toriis in gratitude, each bearing the donor's name.

After walking through Fushimi Inari Taisha, I went to meet with Ichino-san again. Today we are going to Nijo Jinya, this is a house that is near Nijo Castle and historically it was a guesthouse/inn for Daimyo when they visit the Shogun at Nijo Castle.

Ogawa family crest

Nijo Jinya is owned by the Ogawa family who came from Nara originally. The house today is exactly how it was back in the Tokugawa period (1603-1867).

"The original architecture is that of an ordinary house, but Ogawa made special improvements inside so that it would be specifically suited for daimyo to stay at the inn." - from the Nijo Jinya brochure

As the Tokugawa period was a time filled with lots of fighting and assassinations, so Nijo Jinya's interior feature many hidden passageways for easy escape and also to allow ninjas to hide and pop out whenever danger appeared.

below left: a hidden ceiling that has a hole/window for ninjas to drop down into the room below at times of danger

You must bring a Japanese speaker with you as they do not conduct the tours in English. Also need to make advance booking - which you must ask your Japanese speaker/guide to do. They do give out the brochure which has detailed explanation, but of course it's best if you understand Japanese because I'm sure they tell it much more fun than reading about it.

After this, I did some last minute shopping at Tokyu Hands which is just up the block from my hotel. Then I had to rush to Kyoto station to catch the Haruka Express to the Airport.

I mailed all my postcards from the airport and had one for my friend who lives in Osaka, and I was told she received it the next day! So efficient the Japanese postal service. This ends my trip, it was definitely a packed trip, but I'm so glad to have visited these places and attended my cousin's wedding.

........ other photos that didn't make it into the blog posts.......