Beware of Fox Possession
This morning I made my way to another shrine I had always wanted to visit: the Fushimi Inari Taisha, a Shinto shrine.
The torii gates leading up Mt Inari
Built in the 8th century, this shrine was dedicated to the gods of rice and sake - which I think if I were born during that time, would probably be my favourite gods… but these days, in light of declining agriculture, those gods now represent success in business.
What was so cool about the shrine, and why I wanted to visit it so bad, is that it is made up of hundreds of orange torii gates that lead 4 km up to Mt Inari:
The torii gates leading down Mt Inari
There are stone carvings of foxes everywhere, which the Japanese see as the messengers of Mt Inari. Interestingly enough, the Japanese also see the fox as sacred and, well, kinda scary as they are also able to possess humans by entering them under their fingernails… so yeah, that kinda creeped me out as I walked along the gates completely alone.
Sacred foxes of Fushimi Inari
After enjoying Fushimi Inari, and avoiding any potential fox possession, I took the two and a half hour bullet train to Asakusa, Tokyo.
