Inari – Susan Spann, Adventure, Mystery, and Mountains

CHAPTER 20: On Mount Inari

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog, CLIMB Photo Companion December 26, 2020January 16, 2021100 Summits, Climb, Fushimi inari, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Fushimi Inari Taisha, Inari, Kyoto, Shinto

Fushimi Inari Taisha winds up the slopes of Mt. Inari like a coiled dragon made of vermilion gates; while many visitors go no farther than the first station, Mom, Laurie, Kaitlyn, and I made the hour-long trek to the summit, as a “training climb” that would let me assess our potential pace for the upcoming (and far longer) climb of Fuji.

Climbing Mount Inari (Fushimi Inari Shrine, Kyoto)

Susan Spann 1000 Summits, Blog July 16, 2018#100Summits, 100 Summits, Fushimi inari, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Inari, Japan, Kyoto

Yesterday morning, I completed the second non-solo ascent of my 100 Summits Project: Mount Inari (Fushimi Inari Taisha) in Kyoto. The day before, I traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto via shinkansen (bullet train) with my mother, stepdad, and family friends Laurie and Kaitlyn Bolland (as well as my son) to begin several days of hiking and R&R in advance of our planned ascent of Mt. Fuji later this week. (While the weather may not cooperate on Fuji, we’re hoping the predicted storms pass by and we get the chance to climb.)

A Visit to Nezu Jinja, Part 2

Susan Spann Blog January 12, 2018January 14, 2018best shrines in Tokyo, Inari, Inari Okami, Japan, Nezu Jinja, Nezu Shrine, shinto shrines, Tokyo

(To read Part 1, click here.) Like many Shintō shrines in Japan, Nezu Jinja features a subshrine dedicated to Inari Ōkami, the kami (god) of foxes, rice, sake, fertility, swordsmiths, merchants, agriculture, and worldly success (among other things). There are over 10,000 Inari shrines across Japan — and with good reason, given Japan’s historical dependence upon rice as a primary source of food (and, at one time, as the measure of wealth as well).

Climbing the Lower Slopes of Mount Inari

Admin Uncategorized July 4, 2016Fushimi inari, Inari, Japan, Japanese shrines, Shinto, shrines, taisha

As the god of rice, merchants, swordsmiths, fertility, foxes, and many other things, Inari Okami’s presence is ubiquitous in Shinto worship. Over ten thousand Japanese shrines have altars dedicated to Inari, but Fushimi Inari Taisha, south of Kyoto, is Japan’s largest and most important Inari shrine. For the last few weeks, I’ve been blogging an extended “visit” to Fushimi Inari, starting at the shrine’s main entrance, proceeding past the main altar, and finally (today) starting the climb up Mount Inari itself. Fushimi Inari is famous for its thousands of bright red torii – gates that traditionally mark the entrance to a Shinto sacred space. The entrance