This morning we returned to Fushimi Inari for an early morning hike at this famous Shinto shrine. This was our second visit having been here previously for a sunset walk with friends about 3 weeks ago.

It’s notoriety stems from the thousands of vermilion torii gates which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings.

The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which sits at 233m and belongs to the shrine grounds.

The temples around the base of Mount Inari have foxes adorned in red capes protecting those who enter.

At the shrine’s entrance stands the Romon Gate, donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  Behind stands the shrine’s main hall where all visitors are encouraged to pay their respects to the resident deity and make a small offering.

The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donor’s name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate.

The donation amount start at around 400,000 yen for a smaller gate and increases to over one million yen for a larger gate.

Having previously done the hike to the summit and back, we decided to just go for a wander with our new Kiwi friends Michelle B & Jen.

Along the way, there were multiple smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets.

After about a 30-45 minute ascent and a gradual descent we’d seen our fair share of torii gates. Our next stop was a walk to the Gion district and a brief food stop to buy one of the largest apples we’ve ever come across. Fruit in Japan is incredibly tasty and flavourful, but this comes at a cost with a single apple costing almost 330 yen (£1.60).

Our next temple stop was a visit to Sanjusangen-do, home to over a 1,000 Buddhas that sit in rows within a single temple. Unfortunately for religious reasons we weren’t allowed to take any photos of the Buddhas and instead made the most of the temples grounds.

The morning proved to be one of the cooler days we’ve experienced in Japan, with the temperatures having dropped in the last few days to a low of 20c. Hence the jackets and trousers!

Sanjūsangen-dō is a Buddhist temple of the Tendai sect in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto.

The temple was founded in 1164 by Taira no Kiyomori for the cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa.

Having worked up an appetite from the early morning’s activities, we stopped at a vegetarian restaurant and treated ourselves to some ‘home style’ cooking with cheese and guacamole toasties. It’s the first time we’ve both had cheese since we left Australia back in early March.

After walking back to central Kyoto and a wander along one of the many canals we headed to the geisha district and a visit to a museum that documents their history.

Unfortunately it was only when we arrived at the entrance to the geisha museum, that we discovered it was closed for refurbishment…..so instead we went to Maruyama Park and visited Yasaka Shrine and the Daiun-in Temple.

As the day progressed the sunshine thankfully made an entrance and it was sufficiently warm enough for Andy to indulge himself with a milk ice-cream.

The park grounds led up to Otani Sobyo, another Buddhist temple with stunning views looking down on Kyoto from the hillside.

Feeling all templed out, we returned to the walking streets and passed our first Xmas shop of the year.

With our stomachs starting to rumble we made our way to Nishiki market to check out the seafood and also some Sake tasting.

Whilst the market is narrow, it’s lined with over one hundred shops and restaurants and has a great sense of vibrancy and hums with activity.

Some of the shops give out free samples or sell sample dishes and skewers which you have to eat there and then.

With so many choices of foods, we found it hard to decide and eventually found a restaurant outside the market where we were able to sit and take in the views and people watch.

Tomorrow we have another early start with our next stop one bullet train away in Hakone. We really hope to catch a sight of Mount Fuji and also try our hand again at an Onsen (hot spring) and enjoy some more nature.