Kyoto, Japan - Day 10

After yesterday's way-too-long tour of a-few-too-many-temples-and-shrines and an extremely crabby husband-who-thought-he-could-plan-a-better-day, David took the reigns and the maps for our last day in Kyoto. My only request was that a.) I find a samurai sword for my brother's 40th birthday and b.) we get to see that shrine that has all the red gates. The Fishimi Inari Taisha Shrine was, of course, the more interesting of the two, so if you want to see the sword, email my brother Ross.

"The Fishimi Inari Taisha Shrine has been deeply revered by common people as the deity of bountiful crops and good business. In Mt. Inari, the total area of which has been the object of faith from old days, a lot of red torii gates are placed. People have donated them, hoping that their wishes will come true. The original main building was burned down (I told you they all burned down at some point!) during the Onin Wars (1467~1477), and was later rebuilt."

Here's the main gate:

The foxes on either side represent messengers. Remember that Simpsons episode where Homer ate the Guatamalan Insanity Pepper and hallucinated? Of course you do. His guide was a fox - the intermediary between spirit and human world.

David preferred to refer to the foxes as "puppies", as a lot of them had scrolls or orbs in their mouths. Or as David said, "See? They have newspapers and tennis balls".

Did you notice from the beginning that all these gates and shrines are on Mount Inari. That means that there are a lot of stairs.

Here's the view at the top:

Or isn't it the top? Nope, there's more stairs:

Okay, this must be the top:

Nope, more stairs:

Okay, this better be it, I'm getting tired:

Nope, more stairs again. Dang it, how do we keep going up???:

Okay, this is the top. With a really crappy view. This was so not worth the climb.

Finally, a way down.

In case you were trying to count, you pass through more than 10,000 gates on the 4K walk.

=====================

After a good hour on three separate buses trying to get home and going the wrong way twice (can I remind you that David was in charge?), we were well on our way to have some Japanese pancakes, when we passed a sign for a place called El Latino. Margaritas and chips and guac? Fantastic. And this place did not disappoint, it had a great dank feel about it:

We sat next to two older Japanese ladies, who during the two hours we were there, drank eight huge beers and didn't look like they were finished by the time we finally left. And the owner wandered around, chatting to everyone there, and gave us a great send-off:

Yes, our last meal in Japan was Mexican food. And it was great. Sayonara!

=========================

P.S. Did you know you can buy beer on the street in Kyoto? How are people not drunk 24/7?