Kyoto’s Best Site: A Morning at Fushimi Inari Shrine

Although long after sunrise, a 6am start at Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari Shrine was early enough to catch the June morning’s calm. The handful of visitors who made it this early quickly dispersed, making their way up the mountain in solitude. Local joggers were also present, using the steps to challenge their daily workout routine. I was there for the quiet solitude and the morning light, which struggled to breach the mountain and shine through the thick forest cover.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is one of Kyoto’s top sites for visitors. It’s a place of pilgrimage to Japanese and one of wonderment to foreigners. The Shinto Shrine is a series of bright vermilion Torii gates leading up paths on the mountain side. Patrons have sponsored erecting gates over the centuries and today’s thousands create an unforgeable atmosphere.

You could spend a couple hours wandering up to the hilltop shrines and circling back down and around. There’s another shrine at the base, but most people are so transfixed on the Torii gates, they pass by without much notice. The site is famously photogenic and if you’re a photographer, you’ll want to bring a tripod in the early or late hours to catch the soft light in long exposure shots.