Can you avoid the crowds at Fushimi Inari Taisha by setting up early breakfast at Vermillion right when it opens? Nope. You can’t. But you just have to see the 1000 gates.
If you arrive before Vermillion opens at 8:30, you can get yourself on the list and take a walk into the temple complex. Very civilized indeed.
The Vermillion mosquito pond…
And then it is time to brave the masses for a look at a few hundred of the thousand gates. Romey wondered what the tori said and didn’t believe me when I told her they were corporate sponsors. LOL. Buddhism is great.
But you know what? It was just too hot (even early in the morning) to walk the 4km loop. So we bailed at the first choice point and circled back down to our morning dogs.
Anyway, it was a great start to the day and a pretty not bad way to say goodbye to Kyoto. I doubt we will return.
We wanted an amulet from a small shrine near Vermillion. But it failed to open. At all. So instead we acted out our zodiac signs.
And then it was back to the very last attainable corner to catch our car.
And a return to the city with police escort.
