|
We moved to the hotel at Kyoto Station last night, so no more ryokan breakfast. We grabbed some quick food for breakfast. I forgot what we ate. It might have been some of these things. |
| Mochis of almost every flavour. Despite the abundance of desert and sweet shops in departmental stores, it is almost impossible to find plain old regular mochi (the best kind) in them. The only time we had the regular flavour mochi during our trip was in Nara. |
|
|
Some flowers for See Ming to caption. |
| Fushimi Inari Taisha is a shinto shrine dedicated to the Inari, the deity of rice. When we arrived, it was full of students just like everywhere else around Kyoto. |
|
| A map of the place. |
|
|
|
| There are many fox statues around the shrine. These are called kitsune in Japanese and there are many beliefs surrounding their magical powers, so they feature prominently in Japanese folklore. The ones associated with Inari are called myobu or celestial fox are benevolent spirits. The Wikipedia explanation is very detailed and interesting. If you want to see a really hilarious scene involving a stone kitsune head, go out and rent Akira Kurosawa's Ran. |
| Some prayers in the form of origami birds. |
|
|
|
| The other thing you will see plenty of at Fushimi Inari are these red wooden archways that form corridors leading into the forest. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Some of the students were counting the archways. |
|
|
A Shinto priest |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Right: Maneki Neko, the good luck cat. You can find many of these cats throughout Asia.
The paw is raised to beckon and welcome good luck. Below: Some souvenirs - handmade bowls and wodden Noh masks. |
|
|
|
|
We saw this man doing something that looked interesting so we bought two of whatever he was making. They were folded biscuits that looked and tasted very familiar but I could not remember where I had seen them before. Then I noticed a piece of paper inside my biscuit. Of course! It's a fortune cookie just like the ones in Chinese restaurants throughout America. So this is where they come from! |
|
|
|
We had lunch in a small restaurant outside the temple. Sitting next to us was this old lady who works as a florist and her two grand daughters. They translated my fortune cookie slip and said it was "ichiban". |
| Some more pictures taken throughout the day... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to Day 4 <<< | >>> Day 5, part II: Nanzenji and Gion |
