fushimi inari

We went to Fushimi Inari a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting a chance to put up photos.  It is a shrine that has thousands and thousands or vermillion tori lining the paths.  There is a loop that is (we think) about 5 km long; we walked to the beginning of the loop and up and around a little ways.  It is just amazing.  There are sections where the tori are only inches apart, and other sections where they are more widely spaced.  You are walking through a forest, and yet, enclosed within these gates.

here we are towards the beginning

W and her parents went right; the kids and I went left

The kiddos enclosed in a tunnel of tori; we counted; there are at least 4-500 in this short 200 m section

We hiked up to a small lake and a little further on were some small shrines.

the fox is a messenger god; there were many foxes here, some with messages in their mouths, and others with no message

Its places like this that make me wish that 

a)  I wasn't totally illiterate

b) I knew something about Shinto

But it was really beautiful!