This is one of the most unique places we’ve ever been. The shrine itself is pretty run-of-the-mill, but they have a thing here with the orange gates.
Inari is the god of rice, but for as long as anyone can remember, Japanese businesses have been invited to buy and install the orange gates for which the shrine is famous. They look like this.
No matter how hard we tried we could NOT stop taking pictures of these gates! First of all — orange is a favorite color of mine and second of all these gates are giving you DRAMA at every turn. Wonderful, wonderful place.
The buddhists who run the shrine consider the fox as a deity — they revere it as a messenger to another life. So all over the grounds of the shrine you see statues and imagery of foxes.
Many people are buried on the grounds of the shrine and we saw a number of visitors who were there to pray for their ancestors. They would square up to their own shrine, bow, and then clap twice.
Shrine goers can purchase gates to lie against their shrines or burn incense or candles.
It was a great place to visit and by far our favorite shrine (not temple!) we’ve seen on this trip.
