Day 10 – Fushimi Inari Taisha, Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and Gion.

This morning I decide that a trip to the local laundrette was in order and sat with the locals  reading a manga and having a snack-type breakfast while my delicates were on spin cycle!

Then we caught a train to Fushimi Inari Taisha, sitting at the foot of Mount Inari. This is a shrine with rows of about 10,000 torii gates. It has been a place of wide worship for the guardian god of abundant crops, business, prosperity and family safety since the Inari Okami (god of harvest) was housed on Mount Inari.

The torii gates are infused with the meaning of “wishes will come through/came through.” The colour represents the power of the Inari Okami, as many of the shrine buildings and toriis are vividly painted vermillion. The fox is the Inari Okami’s (god of harvest) servant. But it is not an ordinary field fox, but a spirit fox that is believed to convey wishes to Inari Okami. After we left the torii gates there were market and food stalls down the side street leading back towards the train station, but I was able to resist the temptation to buy anything this time!

Next we caught a bus to visit Ginkakuji, formally it was called Higashiyama Jishoji. Ginkakuji consists of the Silver Pavilion, half a dozen other temple buildings, a beautiful moss garden and a unique dry sand garden. We enjoyed walking in the rain with our umbrellas along a circular route through the grounds, from where the gardens and buildings can be viewed.

On the hillside there is a Chinese Parasol tree planted with seedings from the Hiroshima Chinese Parasol tree that survived the atomic bomb blast.

Then we caught a bus back to the Gion district and had a look around, before having dinner at Kyoto’s oldest pub.

Returning by bus and walking to back to our ryokan we were specially treated to a calligraphy class in which we learned to write our own names and favourite word, in Japanese calligraphy!

Sadly this is our last night in Japan, as tomorrow we return to Tokyo and Narita Airport bound for Australia.