Fushimi Inari Shrine, Fox Statues and Red Torii

Fushimi Inari Shrine is located in the south of Kyoto. Take JR train from Kyoto,get off at the second stop, Inari, and you can get to the shrine.There is a large Torii, symbolizing the shrine as a sacred place.It is said to separate the common world and the sacred area.  Foxes are said to be the  ambassadors of the Inari god.
There are many fox statues in the shrine area.

In front of the JR station, there
is a large Torii(sacred gate).
There are about 30 thousand
Inari shrines in Japan.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is the headquarters of these shrines.

We went into the gate building.

The shrine has a very large site and we can see a lot of fox statues all

over the site. 

Each of the foxes there has

a ball, a roll of cloth, an ear of rice, and a key in their mouths.

 So many toriis were there, and a lot of people went through them. The followers of the shrine had donated money to build toriis, and the number of toriis had been increased more and more. Toriis are called“Sembon Torii”(thousand torii) but no one knows how many toriis there are.

Many steps and toriis continues to the top of the mountain called

Inari- yama. 

We hadn't checked the map, so

we didn't know how far we should go up the mountain to get to the top of the mountain. It took about an hour to get to the top. It was very hard to go up steps.

You should check the map before and wear flat shoes.

After you see the sign to the top,you must go up a little more. At the top of the mountain, there are only some buildings. It is hard to get to the top, so if you just want to see toriis, you should turn back half way.