Fushimi Inari Taisha

The temples/shrines themself were obviously stunning. Of course this is a must see for the famous red gates. However, that might be where the positives end for this review. I have never been to a MORE LOUD area of prayer. I was absolutely astonished at the volume of all attendees. I understand this is a large tourist spot but I feel that people have entirely missed the point of what a temple/shrine is. Would you walk into a cathedral and laugh/yell/speak full volume? Despite there being a sign at entrance stating to respect noise as this is a place of prayer, all visitors treated this area as any other. I am guilty of visiting at 10 am, when many others are. This is why I say, if you want to experience this beautiful temple, go before 8 am and possibly bring earbuds. This will allow you to feel the serenity of the space. Additionally, utilize the lockers to store your things and come in sneakers and active wear so you can make the ascent to the top. Climbing up allows you to be around *less* people but even then, at the top of Mt Inari there were crowds. I would say if you want the Instagram/tiktok content go. But if you want serenity and spiritual connection, go to a different temple or meditation garden. 😬

It is a wonderful hike to Mt Inari and midway through the hike you get a brilliant view of a big chunk of kyoto city. Pro tip, do the hike at night. Very high chance you'll have sections of the hike all to yourself to really enjoy the serenity of the shrine. There are notice boards of wild boars being in the area and we did hear movement in the bushes (it's pretty much a path through wildlife with no other construction except the shrine). But it's a bit of an adventure and really does add to the experience of knowing there's peace and a slight tinge of peril. There are rest areas and vending machines for small drinks at regular intervals but they charge 50% to 60% tariff for being on a low access mountain as I assume the cans and bottles have to be carried up on foot. Fair enough but if you don't want to pay the extra amount just carry it from the daily yamazaki konbini at the very beginning of the shrine which is immediately outside the inari station on the nara line itself. If you are in Kyoto don't miss this one especially at night.

Most Unique Temple Complexes That I've Been To! My wife and I came to this place as part of a major visit to Japan on Nov 2025 specifically Osaka and Kyoto. Let me start with the following opinion, my own personal experience in an honest way. I have read a lot of reviews, both good and bad. Yes it is true that visiting during peak periods is a nightmare due to hoards of people. And just because of a few incidents reviewers come up with bad conclusions and berate the place. One has to be smart about when to visit. In our case we had no choice because of other schedule conflicts so we came on a Saturday (long holiday weekend). We decided to come in the late afternoon/evening; yes still crowded but manageable. As for the Japanese Shinto complex, our overall experience was breathtaking! We covered 70% of it as we were running out of time. We checked out most of the major temple buildings, especially walking the thousand-Torii pathway (I left a separate review on that one) which was magical (except for the crowds). Best part was the off-the-beaten path. We purposely got ourselves "lost" in more remote parts of the complex, discovering more reclusive small shrines of all kinds (some seemed rustic and abandoned yet intriguing). At one point we felt we were "being followed" by spirits much like in Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke anime films. I got to see an authentic bamboo forest all to ourselves as there was no one around but us. Watch out for the wild boars (there was a warning sign both in Japanese and English). Towards sundown we managed to arrive at one of the observation spots but not the highest because we ran out of time. Beautiful view of the city landscape! Did I mention during the late afternoon we observed the sun striking the trees in all kinds of beautiful Fall colors and the gals some dressed up in their beautiful colourful kimonos. My overall experience with the other visitors were positive as we never saw anyone misbehaving despite the large gatherings. I will consider coming back to Fushimi Inari again but hopefully during a non-holiday weekday when it's less crowded.

Visited on the evening close to sunset and it was super crowded, making the early stages of the hike quite uncomfortable. Recommended to visit either early morning or night time if you want to avoid crowds. Tho it is worth mentioning the crowd will disperse a lot the higher you hike, and the thousand torii will still continue. If you want to get pictures with the torii but want to avoid huge crowds just keep hiking up. We didn't hike the full course but I heard it takes 2-3 hrs to do a roundtrip. Although a very touristy place it is still a very pleasant and unique place to visit.