Travel Photos – Day 5 & 6

Sandy

Ahead is my third post for the 10 Day Travel Photo Challenge from my Friendly Friday co-host Amanda and I’m back with my two-a-day-maybe-more-than-one-photo post of a single destination.

Travel Photo – Day 5

If you’ve ever watched the movie “Spirited Away” by Hayao Miyazaki, you’ll remember the scene where Haku’s dragon gets viciously attacked by flock of sharp paper-like birds. Imagine my delight when I saw the inspiration for the imagery at the Fushima Inari shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

The papers, called O-mikuji, have fortunes written on them and are typically placed in boxes close to a Shinto or Buddhist shrine. For a small offering, believers can choose a random fortune. If it is a good fortune, they’ll take it with them. If it is a bad fortune, they’ll tie it to a nearby tree hoping that the bad luck will remain there rather than follow them.

  • Bad luck O-mikuji left behind on trees
  • O-Mikuji

Travel Photo – Day 6

Fushimi Inari is a destination point in Kyoto, Japan. The main temple is at the base of the Inari mountain with many smaller shrines up the mountain itself. The highlight of the shrine are the rows of torii gates, known as Senbon Torii.  During the Edo period (1603 – 1868) it was customary for business men to donate torii gates to have wishes come true or in gratitude for having had a wish come true. Along the main path there are around 1,000 torii gates and it is a spectacular sight.

  • Torii gates at Fushima Inari

Toronto, Canada. December 2020

10 Comments

  1. Like Amanda I ran out of time in Kyoto to see Fushimi Inari – it will be top of my list if ever I go back to Japan! But like you I was fascinated by the O-mikuji. We saw a variation on this in a Buddhist temple in Phnom Penh where we were told by our guide about the use of fortune-telling books of tablets. Worshippers hold them on their head, ask the Buddha for guidance, and use a stylus to select the tablet that will contain some advice for, or perhaps a warning about, their future. If that If the message is worrying they can wash in holy water to dilute its power, but not change their future completely.

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    1. That’s an interesting variation that I’d not heard of before. I think water must have a special significance in Cambodia culture. I had a water blessing from monks when I was in Siam Reap.

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  3. I didn’t have time to go see Fushimi Inari – one regret and perhaps something to look forward to when I next go to Japan. I did however, get one of the fortunes at Nakimese street in Tokyo and sadly, I had to tie it there – my predicted fortune was not good…..

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          1. I tend to be one of those people who read the information boards at museums and tourist attractions. I have been accused of ‘dragging the chain,’ at museums, Sandy. To me it is part of the full experience to get the background info.

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