Why You Should Visit Fushimi Inari With Kids


What is the most famous shrine in Kyoto? I would answer Fushimi Inari, with its thousand of red Torii Gates. I have seen so many pictures of the beautiful red trails of the Torii Gates on websites as well as on instagram. Still, it left me with one important question: is Fushimi Inari a kids friendly temple to visit with kids?

Yes we had to walk up to the shrine and walked through thousand of Torii Gates, but along the way we stopped and found many interesting things for our Kiddos: from petting some cats to getting stamps at Fushimi Inari!
We had seen lots of things, enjoyed our visit, and took many pictures with the Torii gates (this below picture is one of my fave). 

I am going to share with you, why you should visit Fushimi Inari with kids.

A family picture taken by mr.husband at the Torii gates


1. Because The Train Station is Just Few Meters Away..

Don't you love easy access to your destination when traveling with kids? The Fushimi Inari train station is located just meters away from the entrance to Fushimi Inari.

It was easy to go to Fushimi Inari, you could take JR Line and alight at Fushimi Inari Station, or just like what we did: we took Keihan Main Line and alight at Fushimi Inari Station. Please note that there are two different train stations at Fushimi Inari: one for JR Line and the other one is for the Keihan Electric Railway.

Arriving at Fushimi Inari Station (for Keihan Electric Railway)

We walked and exit the station to the left (actually we followed the crowd), and after passing a river, we stopped as requested by our Kiddos. They wanted to see the train passing this railway. 

Waiting for the train

And we stopped once more when we saw this huge thing..

Wow, it's even bigger than Kiddos#2!


2. Because Fushimi Inari Shopping Street Is a Must Visit

Walking from Keihan Railway Station side to Fushimi Inari, you will pass a busy street filled with so many souvenirs, snacks shops, and restaurants. Ooh HEAVEN! There are so many street food stalls open in the morning, you can have your breakfast along this street.

But for us, we didn't sure if the food was halal. So we just took pictures and walked through those very tempting snacks. The food looks and smells so good, by the way:p

Entering the shopping street

Japanese snacks are too cute!

The rice crackers with so many flavors

I am sorry, I didn't ask what this was, but it looks yummy, right?

I wish one of the restaurants here serve halal food
The smell from the food is so tempting!


A temporary baggage checkroom is also available, if you need to store your luggage while visiting Fushimi Inari. This shopping street has it all, including a free wifi.


I have never seen a place like this in other touristy places. But I like the idea.



3. Because Kids Learn The Culture at Fushimi Inari

Fushimi Inari is the an important shrine dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice.

Entering the shrine's area, we had to wash our hands and mouth. It was a new experience for our Kiddos. And by this experience, our Kiddos learned that in all religion, we have to be clean before entering any worship places, and before we do a prayer.

Let's clean our hands and mouth first
Start with your right hand, than to the left hand


We were ready to enter the shrine! First we found the Romon Gate, which was being prepared for the New Years Eve. The foxes statue represent that foxes were Inari's messengers. We spotted many fox statues at the shrine grounds.


The shrine is being prepared for the New Years Eve of 2016


Other thing that our Kiddos learned is the way people ring the bells as a symbol of paying respect to the shrine.

People were approaching the shrine to pay a respect


We also saw the culture to write down hope and wishes on a mini Torii Gates, and people hang it together with other Torii Gates. It costs JPY800 to buy one mini Torri Gates.

Step 1: Write down your wishes on a mini  Torii Gate

2. Hang your wishes here with other Torii Gates


4. Because Walking Through The Senbon Torii is So Magical!

We were leaving the entrance area and hike to the beginning of the Torii Gates


We walked further inside, all the way up to the beginning of Senbon Torii (thousand of Torii Gates). This trail leads to the top of the mountain. The total hike is about 2-3 hours of walking. But you go can back whenever you want.


Let's begin walking through the Torii Gates

Unfortunately, the path was really crowded
The beautiful walking trails, covered by Torii gates.


After 30 minutes, we arrived at the first intersection. We stopped for a while to check the map and saw the walking trails from a distance.

Are we there yet? Nope!
Still long way to go

Along the way, we found multiple smaller shrines, with smaller or miniature Torii gates. We also spotted small fox statues in these shrines.

The miniature of the Torii gates at the smaller shrine
We spotted the foxes statue here



5. Because Kids Can Collect Stamps From The Souvenirs Shop

We stopped at one souvenir shop, which we found next to the smaller shrine, and finally we saw the free stamps. Before going to Japan, we brought a small book to collect stamps from the temple or shrine. And our first collection is from Fushimi Inari.


Kiddos put stamp on their book
And also put the stamp on postcard we bought at the souvenirs shop


6. Because Kids Could Pet Cats at Fushimi Inari

I remember reading a Japanese comic about Japanese cat named Michael when I was in high school. The cat was big and fat, and when I saw the cats at Fushimi Inari, I reckon Michael from the comic.

Of course our Kiddos love to pet them, eventhough we had to wait and take turn with other visitors.

Our Kiddos with the big and fat cats





7. Because You Could Take Awesome Picture With the Torii Gates

We walked down heading back to the train station. That time we are going to take JR train to Nara.

Walking down the path


But before reaching the train station, we took a family picture in front of JR station with a huge Torii Gate as the background (well, too bad mr.husband took the picture once again, so he's not included).

At the main entrance to Fushimi Inari


It was a memorable visit for our family to Fushimi Inari. Yes the shrine was very crowded on one of the last days of 2015, but it was well worth it.

written on February 13, 2016 by @tesyasblog


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14 comments:

  1. menarik ya mbak..
    untuk anak2 bisa koleksi stempel dari berbagai tempat..
    itu pasti buat mereka bersemangat jalan2

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iya Mba Monda, seneng banget mereka bisa koleksi stamp hehe..

      Delete
  2. eh, enak2 kok makanan di sekitaran inari, hahaha gw mah beli aja selama ngga ada daging merahnya udah merem aja bismillah :p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iya emang terlihat dan tercium enaaak hehehe..

      Delete
  3. Wuah cemilannya menggoda banget.
    Fotonya keren-keren :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Makasih Mbak udah mampir:)
      Iya emang menggoda banget makanannya, duuuuh!

      Delete
  4. tertarik dengan kota-kota unik di jepang, budaya dan arsitekturnya, tapi nggak tertarik dengan biayanya hahaha, temen-temen pada bilang mihil kalau main kesana. iya nggak sih mbak?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yang aku rasain mahal di transportasinya aja. Tapi kalau sehari-hari di sana nya enggak mahal kok, Kak Fahmi!

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  5. aku msh ragu nih mw ksini ato ga pas ke jepang nanti... soalnya sepertinya udh jd tempat yg banyak dikunjungi ya mba :D.. pgn cari yg unik2 lain dr Kyoto :D tapi makanan yg dijual menggoda semua nih :p

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mba mau nanya,

    bisa ga melipir antara PP tokyo - osaka ?
    butuh berapa lama slama disini ?

    makasih ya sblmnya u/ jawabannya

    anggi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hai Anggi, bisa banget.. Dengan Shinkansen 3 jam.
      Nginep semalam aja di Osaka, supaya enggak cape di jalan. Dan yang penting ke Shinsaibashi area di Osaka itu harus malam hari. Jadi menginap semalam is best. Have fun di Jepang :)

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  7. Fushimi inari is one of the most interesting kyoto shrines ... the climb with the torii is tiring but it is worth the effort ... so many people, but on working days one walks well. Not to go in the summer with the hot humid Japanese ... I wrote an article about this sanctuary https://www.giappominkia.com/fushimi-inari/
    Fascinating to know that there are over 40 thousand Inari shrines throughout Japan and Fushimi is the origin of all.

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    Replies
    1. Hi thanks for stopping by at tesyasblog, what a great article you wrote. Didn't understand the languange though, but love the pictures!

      Delete