Hello again! To be honest, I’m here to record our travelling journal. If I’ve caused anyone FOMO in any way, kindly forgive me. Sometimes, travelling can be stressful especially if a country is well-known for overtourism. One can never fully gauge the “atmosphere” of whether the locals are unhappy due to being overwork but underpaid or due to stereotypical racism. However, we generally felt pleasant throughout of journey here in Japan. Most local Japanese people had been really kind. There is a slower way of travelling if time is of abundance. One can always opt to walk from Tokyo to Kyoto. I’ve read blogs about slow travelling and am seriously considering it in my next adventure.
In the early morning of day two in Kyoto, both of us went to visit the famous Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine. When we reached the shrine at around 07:05 am, there were already many visitors. At the top of the hill is one of the many preferred locations in Kyoto to enjoy the sunrise view. There are two subway stations; the Fushimi Inari station and the Inari station. We got out from the closer one, which is the Inari station. The first bright vermilion Torii gate stood out magnificently the moment we got out of the Inari station and as usual welcoming visitors from all over the world. The peculiar part about this grand shrine is that no entrance fee is required. The reason being all the sacred Torii gates were donated by business owners over the years especially so during the Edo period. Presumably, the current maintenance work is carried out by the local prefectural city hall.
Our biggest reason for coming over were to experience with our own eyes, body and limbs the unique architectural structures. There is a total of 10,000 Torii gates forming tunnels of between 800 to 1000 Torii gates that are all different sections of the shrine located on a hill. As known by many, the earliest structures of the shrine were constructed since the Heian period in 711. Upon the request of monk Kukai, the shrine was relocated to its current spot in 816 from the previous Inariyama Hill in Southern Kyoto. Getting to the top of the shrine or hill took roughly two hours. Quite a hike really. Our butt hurt slightly, a good morning workout. It’s normal to walk 30,000 to 40,000 steps a day while in Kyoto.
As the grand shrine had been very photogenic at various angles, like an open-air museum, it made the hike much more worthwhile the effort. The combination of eye-catching structures plus effective exercise routine worked magic at drawing in crowds. It is truly one of a kind in this world. Passing through the tunnels felt like traveling back in time. Although the tunnels differed slightly from one another yet we anticipated reaching the top of the hill. The hike was slow and steadily paced to ensure a carefully curated photo coverage. One of kind experience to treasure.
Upon reaching the top of the hill gasping for air, the city view of Fushimi city was breathtaking in spite of missing the sunrise. The journey walking down the hill was surprisingly quick. If we hadn’t stopped to look at the stray cats, it probably felt like less than half an hour. There were several volunteer locals feeding the stay cats living behind bushes. The Inari souvenirs in the mid- and bottom of the hill were too adorable. We couldn’t help but to admire them.
Thank you for reading! 💗
IN CHINESE
大家好！说实话，我来这里是为了记录我们的旅行日记。如果我让大家感到遗憾，请多多包涵。有时候，旅行会让人感到压力，尤其是在一个以过度旅游而闻名的国家。你永远无法完全了解当地人的“氛围”，他们是否因为工作过度、收入过低，或者因为刻板印象中的种族歧视而感到不满。然而，我们在日本的整个旅程总体上都感觉很愉快。大多数日本当地人都非常友善。如果时间充裕，也可以选择更慢的旅行方式。比如，你可以选择从东京步行到京都。我读过一些关于慢旅行的博客，并且正在认真考虑在下次旅行中尝试一下。
在京都的第二天清晨，我们俩去了著名的伏见稻荷大社。我们大约在早上7点05分到达神社时，已经有很多游客了。山顶是京都众多欣赏日出的绝佳地点之一。那里有两个地铁站；伏见稻荷站和稻荷站。我们从离我们较近的稻荷站下车。刚出站，第一座鲜艳的朱红色圣门就映入眼帘，气势恢宏，一如既往地迎接来自世界各地的游客。这座宏伟神社的特别之处在于它不收取门票。原因是所有神圣的圣门都是历代商户捐赠的，尤其是在江户时代。据推测，目前的维护工作由当地的县政府负责。
我们此行的主要目的是亲眼目睹、亲身感受这些独特的建筑结构。神社共有10000座圣门，形成由800至1000座圣门组成的隧道，这些圣门构成了神社的不同区域，神社坐落在一座小山上。众所周知，神社最早的建筑可以追溯到平安时代的公元711年。公元816年，应僧人空海的请求，神社从京都南部的稻荷山迁至现址。登上神社山顶大约需要两个小时，真是一段不短的徒步之旅。我们屁股有点酸痛，不过也算是一次不错的晨练。在京都，每天走三四万步是很正常的。
这座宏伟的神社从各个角度看都非常上镜，宛如一座露天博物馆，让这段徒步之旅更加值得。引人注目的建筑加上有效的锻炼方式，吸引了众多游客前来参观。它确实是世界上独一无二的。穿过隧道，仿佛穿越回了过去。虽然各个隧道略有不同，但我们依然期待着登上山顶。我们放慢脚步，稳步前行，以便精心拍摄照片。这是一次值得珍藏的独特体验。
气喘吁吁地爬到山顶，虽然错过了日出，伏见市的景色依然令人叹为观止。下山的路程出乎意料地快。如果不是停下来看那些流浪猫，感觉不到半个小时就到了。有好几位当地志愿者在灌木丛后喂猫。山腰和山脚下的稻荷神像也可爱极了，我们忍不住驻足欣赏。
感谢阅读！💗
[//]:# ([//]:# (!worldmappin 34.96770 lat 135.77919 long Fushimi Inari Taisha d3scr))