Hatsumode - 初詣 -

Sabishii no Tabi part 8

-  初詣- 

- Hatsumode  -

(New Year celebration)

Hatsumode is japanese new year celebration/festival where Japanese visit temples on the 1st to 3rd of January to pray. To experience this, I went to probably the most symbolic temple of Kyoto; Fushimi Inari. 

Just after disembarking the train - there's a sea of people heading to the temple

At the entrace... police controlling traffic

 There's shops as well 

 First main temple building

 Guradian diety of Fushimi Inari - Fox - 

 This is what makes Fushimi Inari symbolic -  thousands of vermilion Torii Gate

 Its hard to get a good spot for picture as there are endless wave of people crossing

 View from outside

 There's a bamboo groove nearby

 Fushimi Inari is located on Mt. Inari - one of the checkpoint offers a scenic observatory point of Kyoto.

 At the tallest temple peak 

 After I descended from the mountain top - there's still a lot of people who just arrived. It doesn't stop!!

The journey to the top of Fushimi Inari probably take close to 1 hour that day as they were a lot of people so hiking speed was a bit slow. However, I was impressed seeing so many elderly probably around 60-70's maybe  still managed to climb all the way to the top. Maji respect! Keep up the active lifestyle! 

Fushimi Inari is really an interesting place. Not just a place of worship, but also as a scenic and recreational place with its mountain course. 

So on Hatsumode (1st to 3rd of January) - just know that there's a lot of people!! And if you hate walking slow in a sea of people - avoid these dates :) 

There's also a lot of people in the cities shopping from 1st to 3rd... as Japanese new year sale is really awesome! Plus, they have fukubukurou! (Read it up!) 

I bought a digital camera which was around 100$ cheaper then the lowest price on internet! 

Olympus SH-60 that I bought from Yodabashi Camera

The next post will be about Yama!