Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine

With over 30,000 torii gates Fushimi-Inari-Taisha Shrine is on of Japan's top attractions. It was amazing!

We completed the entire 4km hike through the torii gates.  I'm pretty sure most people just do the start of it for a few hundred meters and then loop back.  The beginning was crowded but once you get about ten minutes in there were barely any people.

It was inspiring how many tori gates there were and we saw several people working on them.  Every once in a while there was a man painting them.  Up near the top we saw them building new ones.  The torii gates were a little more spread out closer to the top so there is definitely room for more.

Some of the gates were bran new and shiny and others were very old and had so much character.

I think is is one of the coolest human made sights there is.  

Several places along the way you can purchase mini torii gates and offer them up to the gods.  On one pillar you write your name and the other your wishes.  They will then be placed somewhere at the shrine.  They are not cheap.  The one I'm touching in the picture costs about $130.  Businesses or people who want to donate can purchase a whole large torii gate to be put up.  Those are about 4-13 thousand dollars.  We bought small ones to hang on our Christmas tree as a momento of our time in Japan.