Temples and Shrines and Gardens #4 - the Southern Ones

There were two outstanding sites on the outskirts of Kyoto that required a short train trip, so we combined them for a spectacular day. I'm glad we did them in the order we did. 

The first one, Tofuku-ji, was so quiet and serene - there can't have been more than 50 people there rambling through a huge compound. Temples are set on either side of a small ravine, with covered bridges (including one called the "Bridge to Heaven", which goes across rather than up as I would have expected but what do I really know of heaven, Agnostic that I am) to cross and the sound of water to hear. Come November and the height of autumn colour this place is apparently a zoo, but right now the myriad maple trees are just coming to leaf, sporting red and green and pink baby shapes of leaves to come. 

It's San-mon is the oldest zen gate in the entire country, and although the whole place was established in the 13th century, it is the garden, laid out in 1938, that now is lovely and thoughtful, with stones, moss and sand arranged just so. Zen meditation is taught here to those eager enough to withstand its rigours, and Japanese-only instruction.
  

adding a stone to the others on the gate

the oldest zen gate, not the biggest, and look at the size of it!

the gravel is the sea and the rocks are the land

so the gravel sometimes is stormy and sometimes is calm

Despite our reading I don't think we were really prepafred for Fushimi Inari-Taisha, a Shinto shrine with a capital S. An endless stream of bright orange torii climb up a seemingly endless collection of stairs up to the top of Mount Inari, which, round trip, would take a keener to do in an hour, but that would be if there were no other people there and nothing to explore on the way, neither of which is likely. It was packed when we were there, which happened to be Easter Sunday, April 1, and part of spring holiday here, so lots of foreigners and lots of Japanese tourists. This is the shrine many Japanese do in early January, so that it is the first seen in the new year. 

The path of gates and gates climbs through woodland, with cedars and bamboo, predominating, although camellia and cherry blossoms are aplenty. Every once in a while there is a clear space to see the view, a hazy sprawl of city suburb with hazier hills beyond. 

Dedicated to the gods of rice and sake, its deity is a fox with a key in its mouth, the key to the granary and thus to prosperity. There are fox motifs and souvenirs everywhere, as the fox is considered the messenger of Inari, the god of cereals. As in other cultures the fox is considered a wily character, here with the capacity to possess a human by way of under the fingernails. Could that be why Japanese fingernails are generally kept so clean?

As we trudged up hill, following less and less people as some dropped out (especially those with strollers or wheelchairs), we came to one clearing to find a small traditional tea house that served udon (thick noodle) soup and sake. There - I knew Heaven was 'up'! We gladly took off our shoes, sat on tatami mats at a little table that looked out onto a ravine covered in trees and had one of those life's most memorable meals.