There's few places on Earth that I've visited that have left such an indelible impression as Fushimi Inari. I've covered my thoughts on this shrine dedicated to Worldly Wealth, Foxes and Rice (Mainly Foxes) before on my blog, so there's not much more to re-iterate on second visit. Or is there? Looking back I realized I began this endeavor cataloguing my second visit to Japan on April 2, 2016. Between then and now there've been any number of snafu's from Google + nixing my original blog because I dared double post one day to Google + being deleted by Google itself, to job changes, other trips, Covid, etc. It's been a long wild ride, and yet here I am looking back on something almost 5 years ago.
I look at these pictures, half a world away, and despite it all, I am transported back then, back to my second visit. I was anxious to go back, partly because my camera at the time was on the fritz and half of my pictures did not turn out well at all. Thank goodness they did this time. There were other reasons too, I wanted to revisit my friends the foxes, and they were still there waiting patiently in their hundreds. It is interesting to see each one, and while many bear a similarity, one can find a dynamic difference between each one.
Another reason to visit is the location itself. The colors are striking, red (or vemillion) on white, with a few other spare colors between. These are shinto colors, colors of something sacred, and nestled here and there one finds little foxes like our friend below.
One might laugh at the so called superstitions of other religions, and then one realizes ones own beliefs in oneself or greater power are no lesser or greater than these. I boldly touched a statue after explaining that this is not usually done due to a superstition and proceeded to fall down a few sets of stairs. Not recommended.
When it comes to foxes, invariably there are five standard similarities. They all usually have a red bib, they all usually bear a key or a jewel, they all sit on pedestals, and they all look just about ready to eat you alive. Their eyes are distinctly fearsome, even when they seem playful like the one below, and the best ones are poised as if in mid movement, again like the one below. In fact, this particular statue and fountain is my favorite of all the foxes of Inari. It sits at a spring I don't know the name of, with a sprig of fresh bamboo always in its mouth. It almost looks like its ready to slide ride on into the pool below.
Another interesting thing about the mountain, besides the innumerable torii gates which I've talked about before are what I call Torii Villages. These are little nooks and crannies where stone torii, shrines and wooden torii are clustered in such numbers as to look like the skyline of the Tokyo cityscape. You might almost call them fox villages.
Like before, I wanted to visit the kind folks who had made me a torii gate and festooned it with blessings once before and thankfully they were still there and still open. I don't expect they remembered me at all, considering the thousands of villagers everyday, but they are such good kind people and I was very grateful for the gentleman's work and the lady's presence.
One thing I did change was visit another shop that had little wooden carved foxes in fanciful display, doing various normal human tasks. My favorite was the second one below, which I brought home and features a fox and its little friend waving and welcoming someone. I thought of my two fox characters in my book when I saw this and figured it was fate I stumbled on them.
There are other, smaller foxes if one knows where to look, peeking behind pillars and posts, standing a silent vigil by the thousands.
Most visitors will stand arrested by the Torii, but half the battle of enjoying them is waiting a chance to snap a picture. Out of maybe 100 pictures, I have four that show the full magnificence of these Torii hallways stretching out for what seems time immortal.
Light plays important part of Fushimi, and I once spoke about the dangers of nighttime there. By day the lamps rest on the Torii as a reminder of the evening to come. After a full day, my family was tired and hungry, so we had a tradition to enjoy.
I don't know if there's something about an American style cheeseburger with fries in japan that makes it so rewarding to get one, but My God, after Japanese food and a lot of walking this burger at Kyoto Station or Osaka Station (I cannot remember which one) was delicious. The last time we were in Kyoto we did McDonalds, and getting a burger has become something of a tradition. My Dad also took this time to share a picture of the little wifi mobile hotspot we used. These are a lifesafer in Japan, allowing us to get wifi for finding our way on the road. I cannot stress enough how important and useful these are to the traveler in Japan, especially when you're not 100 percent on where your going. That 99 percent might be good, but its the 1 percent chance that can make a difference.
Returning to our hotel in Osaka overlooking the Castle, we found an enormous crowd gathered to enter the local venue. I did a little investigation and these are all women, all gathered to see a local pop group. What was weird was they were there when we left, and we came back and all the while I only saw them taking pictures with cardboard cutouts of their boy band idols. I don't know or have any idea if they actually had a concert. It was just another slice of Japan that I could watch from a window and gratefully admire without actually participating in.
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