Inari Jinja

My favorite place in Kyoto by far was the Inari Jinja with the 1000 torii gates. It had the same feeling as the Meiji Shrine: just very peaceful and nanka magical. (that's right. taking the japanglish to a whole new level now.^^)

First you have to take a smaller train a little bit outside of the more bustling Kyoto center. It doesn't take all that long, but when you step off the train, you definitely feel like all the sudden you've been transported to a small suburb on Shikoku or something. OK it's not that bad, but it really does have a nice, quiet feel to the area not found so much in the only places I had been in Japan thus far: Tokyo and Kyoto.

Even the parking lot is gorgeous.

You know what's really cool/spooky about the next picture? I didn't realize it until I got back to the U.S. and was flipping through all my albums, but it just so happens that both my name and my sister's name are written on the torii gates!! My name is Hiroko (ひろ子) and my sister's name is Katsumi (勝見). It's like "Where's Waldo" or something....can you find them? You get a gold sticker if you do!

I went really early in the morning, so there weren't all that many people around, but I did run into a group of elementary school children with their little matching yellow hats!! So cute!!!

(Also, yea, I can't believe I got up early in the morning either, but it's really worth it. This place + people = not as good. like, at all. It was more crowed on my way back down. Plus, when the older people show up and run up the mountain that took you 3 hours to climb in 20 min, you feel really awful. Better to just avoid them....)

Although, it is nice if there is someone there so that you can have your picture taken, like so:

These pictures were simply glorious. I love how the photographer played with the light. She really captured the true essence of the place. I wonder who it is..... xp

I really don't have much to say here because I think the photos speak more poetically than I ever could about the Inari Shrine. Definitely going back here soon.