In my running set of posts about my visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in south-east Kyoto, I showed the paths lined with thousands of gates that the shrine is famous for, but I ended the most recent installment – Fushimi Inari Shrine: Foxes, Treasure, and More with the teaser that there was so much more than just the gates.

We didn't have a map, so we took what turned out to be a side path that later looped back to the main path....

It was great luck to take this side path, because in doing so we discovered a wonderful visual treasure: an area jam packed with a mishmash of a bazillion “sub shrines”.

As I speculated in my first post, it seems that each of these sub-shrines represents an Inari Shrine elsewhere in Japan, providing a physical presence for the real shrine here at the head Inari shrine. (“Inari” shrines being dedicated to business success, material wealth, and foxes, among other things.)

This small area was just packed with history. You could see generation after generation after generation of additions as it was expanded over time. It's all nestled in the middle of the mountains, so expansion often involved constructing stairs and carving out a flat terrace.

Some of it looked as if it had been completed yesterday – very modern, with proper drainage and smooth, polished cut stone – but more often than not it looked to be hundreds of years old. The photo above shows some very weathered stones.

It's an incredibly visually-rich area. Anthony ran around and explored as I tried to see what I could capture photographically, but his attention span matches his age (five years old), so I didn't have much time.

In looking over the photos when I got home, I was struck by how often the sense of scale was totally lost in the photo. For example, the gate in the photo above is about a foot or so tall, with the center plaque thing being about the size of a deck of cards. (You can also see it in the center of the “Relatively Modern Area” photo above.)

On the other hand, the gate in the center of this next photo is huge, with life-sized horses flanking it...

At least I think the horses were life sized... they really look like toys in the photo, so I'm not 100% sure.

Near the entrance to the area was a large map showing the location of sub shrines by number...

The map shows no indication of the visual chaos that envelops the site. The map is boring. The site is amazing.

Of course, this is Japan, so any area of beauty or interest must be marred with lots of wires, utility poles, etc. It's the law.

Continued here...