This is part 2 of a multi-part description of my trip to Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan, as part of my Kinne Traveling Fellowship grant through my studio at GSAPP. You can read the first post here . To see all my photos from Kyoto, visit my Google+ album here . March 13th Our second full day in Kyoto. This time we checked out the southern/southeastern part of the city, visiting Fushimi Inari Taisha (Grand Shrine), Tofuku-ji, and then back in downtown, Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle). Fushimi Inari is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deity Inari, whose messengers are foxes ( kitsune ). There were fox statues everywhere! This shrine is the chief shrine to Inari, and is distinctive for its thousands of vermilion torii , or sacred gates. Torii are present at every Shinto shrine, but here it’s traditional for families and even corporations to donate them, so there are tunnels of torii lining the pathways. The shrine grounds encompass a mountain trail lined with smaller shrines and re...
Musings on Architecture, Urbanism, and the Built Environment