Second and final installment of Fushimi Inari Taisha. Having reached the mountain top and rested for all of 3 minutes, we immediately began our descend. We'd seen the shopping streets leading up to the shrine entrance and we wanted to have time to browse and snack some.
As expected, the way down was much easier and faster than the way up, though it was no less hot. It was midday after all.
Had another short break and a snack: a waffle matcha ice cream sandwich! Really hit the spot. Yum! We particularly appreciated these water fountains along the way, which allowed us to rinse our sweaty palms and cool down a little bit.
More o-tsukas stone monuments. There are some ten thousands of these among the smaller shrines at Fushimi Inari Taisha!
Neat fox fountain, supposedly a god who cures eye diseases.
Near the base of the mountain, we passed by several smaller shrines and temples. We also walked through what looked like a small neighborhood on our way back to the Fushimi Inari Taisha entrance.
Back at the shrine's main entrance, there were several lovely structures so picturesque I just couldn't resist snapping away at them.
How cool is this asymmetry?
The dark wooden building is probably where ceremonies are perform, though at first glance the interior reminded me of a Noh stage.
Exiting Fushimi Inari Taisha now.
Along the shopping street, hubby finally broke down and admitted he needed a hat. The challenge with finding him a hat is his head. No really, he has a big head. At home it's easier to find hats size XL, or with sports merchandise they usually have specific numeric sizes. But it was almost impossible in Japan. Several times we'd attempted to find him a hat in Tokyo and failed. On that shopping street there were several hat shops, and the biggest hat we could find barely sat on his head. We bought it anyway because he was desperate for a hat. It was simply too hot.
Anyway, we hopped onto the train for a quick ride to our next destination of the day: Tofuku-ji.
See my previous Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kyoto, Kyoto post.
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