I'm standing in front of omikuji, fortune telling boxes. You shake them, and a wooden stick with a number pops out. For 200 yen, you can tell the number to the miko (women shrine attendants), and she'll give you a piece of paper with your fortune on it. My fortune was good, and I was feeling so lucky to be here.
This is me and my roommate at the entry to the path of torii (shinto prayer gates).
The torii gates are constructed to ask for good luck from the kami (spirits). The effort put into their construction is how people ask for good luck. On the front side of the gates, the top reads, "奉納” (dedication/offering). This is a picture of the back sides of the gates. On the left side, it says who sponsored the gate to be built, and on the right side, it says "Built on an auspicious day in the Japanese year of such-and-such." The oldest gate we found was a stone gate constructed around the Japanese year of Meiji 30, so around 1900AD. Gates that rot and start to fall are burned in furnaces dotting the mountain.
The first Shinto mirror I've seen in my life. I was so excited! You can see a reflection of me there taking the picture.
The forest....mmmmmm wow.
Indescribably cool.And, some fluffy surprises await with the foxes on Fushimi Inari Mountain:
I've been looking for something like this!
Pictures do not do this experience justice. I know that's cliche, but I'm serious with this one. It was magical, and it made me feel comfortable and easy-going. I went with a group of people who wanted to get to the "top," but I just wanted to take all the time in the world and experience the little things, to just stand in this. Anyway, there was no "top" of the mountain. It's Japanese. The path is shaped in a circle. I'll go back soon to experience it again, without my camera; slowly, easily, taking the little things in.
3 comments:
The prayer gates remind me of the Central Park gates (though I guess it should be the other way around).
I was surprised to learn that there's a whole shrine dedicated to the fox, since I usually think of it as the trickster animal, but it looks so noble in your pic!
Hope your ear is feeling better!!
The gates there are just beautiful. I've always loved seeing them in pictures, so it's really neat that you're such a short distance from it!
it does look magical. and i can only imagine you having the most wonderful experience there. its so beautiful too.
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