Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto is a city that is full of temples and shrines. One of my absolute favorite shrines to visit is the Fushimi Inari. It is located southeast of Kyoto but easily reached by local trains from Kyoto Station to Inari Station on JR Lines in 5 minutes.
The Fushimi Inari was first established 711 but the main structure was built 1499. The shrine is located at the foot of a mountain and the orange tori gates donated by companies and families for greater fortune covers the path that takes you up the mountain. There are over 10.000 orange tori gates and walking under them is great thing to do.  The big walk in the mountain that takes about 2 hours to walk makes a fantastic and almost religious experience. It is beautiful to come in the late afternoon so that you walk under the tori gates that are lit up in the dark forrest.
All over the mountain you find small shrines with small tori gates as well as guardian foxes. These foxes also called Kitsune are regarded as the gods messangers. As an attribute the hold a key in their mouth that is supposed to be the key to the rice granary. Rice used to measure your fortune!
There is no entrance fee to the shrine!