The Torii Shrine ...

The Torii Shrine, more formally known as Fushimi Inari Taisha, is famous for the tens of thousands of torii located on the shrine grounds, hence the nickname the Torii Shrine. Inari is the Japanese God of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success. "Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) is the head shrine of Inari, located in Kyoto, Japan. The shrine sits at the base of a mountain also named Inari, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines" (duh).

At the bottom of the mountain you will find the main torii gate and the main shrine. In Japan, the "torii marks the transition from the sacred (the shrine) to the profane (the normal world)". They are almost always painted a redish orangish color and the purpose of the torii is so:

"Torii mark the entrance to sacred space in Japan. Passing underneath a torii on the way to visit a shrine is, along with washing one's hands and mouth with water, an act of sanctification and purification before approaching the kami (God) to pray.
For this reason, people who are in a state of uncleanliness are not permitted to approach a Shinto shrine for prayer as their uncleanliness would defile the grounds. Examples of uncleanliness in the Shinto tradition include a woman who is menstruating or anybody who has lost a relative in the past year. When a Japanese person suffers a death in the family, he or she will go to Buddhist temples instead of a Shinto shrine to offer prayers for 1 year" (Wikipedia). Interesting, huh?

So to enter the shrine we first go underneath the torii and straight to purificationing.

In case you're not sure of what to do, use your picture clues:

Amanda and I are pros, considering we've done this literally a thousand times.

Amanda isn't even weirded out by the germs anymore. :)

Once we were cleansed we entered the shrine and the first thing we noticed were these women carrying an elaborate something or another and looking very traditional. Once we got closer, we realiazed that they were carrying babies!! I love, love, love babies and these two were so tiny & dressed so beautifully that I wanted to take them home. After watching for a few minutes we were approached by one of the Japanese women who explained to us that this was a type of tradition called Hatsu Miyamairi. We watched and listened and then I came home & looked it up.

(They really were friendly, despite the picture)

Here's what I found about it:
"One month after birth (the 32nd day for boys and 33rd days for girls) the baby is taken to a Shinto shrine to be placed under the protection of the Gods or Kami and become a parishioner. In days gone by the baby was always taken to the shrine by the grandmother because the mother was considered to be impure from childbirth, but nowadays the child is more likely to be taken by the mother. During the ceremony, called Hatsumiyamairi, the parents and grand-parents express their gratitude to the Shinto deities for being given the baby and the priest prays for the baby’s good health and happiness. A Shinto priest wearing unique Shinto costume and headgear stands between the parents and the altar and recites a prayer or Norito at the same time swinging a Tamagushito to the right and left. Somewhere in the middle of the prayer, the priest cites the name of the baby and his or her birthday. The prayer continue for about ten minutes and then the parents and baby go forward and bow to the altar. At the end of the ceremony rice wine or sake, is served in wooden cup and given to each adult." There you have it.

Amanda & I ready for our third religious stop of the day:

The fox in the background of the picture is very symbolic of the Japanese culture. Foxes are believed to possess superior intelligence, long life, and magical powers and are often found at Inari shrines. There were definitely a lot of foxes at the Torii Shrine. Amanda will explain in the video to come. :)

So after actually getting into the shrine our eyes went straight to the see of vermillion (the technical term for the color of the torii, NOT the city in South Dakota, haha).

There were so many torii it was unbelievable.

It is said that a person who has been successful in business often donates a torii in gratitude. The Fushimi Inari shrine in Kyoto has thousands of such torii. Clearly there are a lot of successful people.
We walked through the first section of torii, attempting to read the kanji along the way and then we would come to a clearing where we could pray or buy a torii to write a wish or fortune on to leave for the Gods like so:
And then there would be more paths with more torii. Apparently you could walk all the way up the mountain in a path of torii, but we weren't that adventurous on this particular Saturday.

Casey & Lindsey making their way through the maze of torii:

The torii that were donated or purchased by those successful business people are inscribed with name and date (of purchase? of installation? I'm not quite sure).

Amanda & I trying to decide which path to take ... the left or the right?

I'm kind of all about the path less traveled ...

And of course we took a video. It's Amanda explaining the torii and the kanji in her own words. Please always cross reference before believing Amanda's explanations. :)

I'm really going to miss traveling with Amanda. :(


much love

-tara-

xx