Fushimi Inari, officially known as Fushimi Inari Taisha, is a beautiful Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto, famous for its thousands of vermilion torii. The torii gates along the way are donations from individuals and companies and on the back of each gate is the name of the donor and the date of the donation.
The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred mountain Inari, which is 233 meters high and is part of the shrine grounds. The hike to the top of the mountain and the way back take about 2-3 hours.
The shrine is dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. Since it is believed that foxes are Inari's messengers, there are numerous fox statues throughout the shrine grounds. The Fushimi Inari Shrine is the main shrine of all 30,000 Inari shrines in Japan.