When you last saw the dynamic duo, they were in quite a pinch. Batman had just triggered the park wide alert system and girl Robin just starred at the absurdity of it all. We spent a good amount of time at the park, watching a lonely guy feed turtles.Following our stint at the park, we decided to hit up a site Valley-chan had her heart set on visiting, the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Fushimi Inari is a shrine with thousands upon thousands of giant torii gates. Look at the pictures given to see what I mean (or wiki it, I really don't care which). I thought the Valley wanted to visit it to experience the power of the torii gates, but would later find out that she just wanted to reenact a scene from Memoirs of a Geish
a...Ever wonder why Fox McCloud from Star Fox wears that red scarf? The fox god from this shrine is the reason. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle....or magic the gathering match, whichever applies to you geeks out there
The main shrine is at the base of a hill and has an amazing amounts of gaudy decorations and plenty of fox statues. But it is beautiful none the less. Valley and I spent some time taking pictures in front of the shrine and yelling at this group of girls who kept standing in our frames. But, the main attraction was ascending the hill lined with torii gates. After 30 minutes of attempting to take photos of various poses (and running through the gates in a dramatic manner, we began our actual ascent.
The amount of torii is honestly mind boggling. It seemed as if we were in one giant tunnel on the way up the hill. Do you know many decades/centuries it took to create all these torii? No, seriously do you know because I'm too lazy to wiki it. Feel free to leave dates on the comments page. On our way up, we passed a group of American skaters/stoners. As we ascended, we passed them descending and were greeted with, "man that was freakin' amazing", or some other such nonsense. They may not have been high, but its much funnier for Valley and I to believe that they were.We also learned that people live on various shacks along the mountain, attending to tourists and the shrines. It was fascinating to us since we would pass huts long since closed for the night, but we would see the glow of a TV on the inside, or hear chattering. What a fascinating lifestyle, since the hike up to the huts near the top take some time to reach, and I cannot imagine that people go up and down into town everyday. Thus, many must sit in the huts alone with their families all day long for a good portion of the year. Being the horror fan that I am, I was eerily reminded of The Shining, and wondered if cabin fever occurs in these huts, but more on this at a later article.
Valley and I reached the top of the hill, and found a nice overlook spot with an amazing view of Kyoto. There were benches, but the Valley chan and I being the tough kids we are sat on some rocks. We spent the night just getting to know each other better, and talking about life (which I later learned involved massive amounts of Starbucks between us). It was a great time, and reassured me that the awkwardness that I thought would pervade our trip together would only minimally occur! Thus, our first night in Kyoto came to an end.
Ganbatte,
-DPN
Omake: Since you guys only get to hear my opinions on things, I decided to get the Valley chan's opinion on the Torii gates...and perhaps you'll hear a bit of how she earned her nickname. Enjoy!
