I am Jacob Laukaitis, a 21 year old digital nomad, who has already been to more than 30 countries in the last 2 years. I love making videos of places I visit so here is one from my last trip to the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, Japan.
The shrine predates 794, when the capital of Japan moved to Kyoto. It sprawls all around the mountain and there are hundreds of small shrines, thousands of sculptures, and more than 10,000 Torii gates. Every single one of those gates has been donated by an individual, organization, or a company from anywhere around the world. Their names are inscribed on the gates in Japanese characters. The prices start from 400,000 yen and go up to a million and even more!
In order to reach the shrine you need to trek up-hill for quite some time until you reach the wooden forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters above sea level. Many people do not trek all the way to the top, because even though it is not a very tough physical challenge, it is still quite a stretch, especially for older people and kids. However, if you decide to climb all the way up, do not be suprised to find a lull in the beginning, as there are way too many people for it to be enjoyable, but the higher up you go, the more relaxing and interesting it gets.
Since the shrine has been there for ages it seems as a natural part of the mountain and surroundings, much more than the shopping malls, hotels, or stations of Kyoto. It seems like it has been around forever and it is as much a part of the mountain as the trees and bushes.
One odd thing I noticed while on my way up was that there were absolutely no garbage bins anywhere in the mountain, so I had to keep everything in my backpack. There would be no problem with that, although the green tea flavored coffee that I had bought at the vending machine, spilled in my backpack, and I spent 15 minutes running around trying to find some napkins to clean it up.
If you would like to see more of my endeavors, I post 2 videos a month. My trips and videos are partly covered by Travel-Ticker.com, thanks to whom I can fund my travels. You can follow my trips on my personal website JacobLaukaitis.com and on my Instagram profile where I post the best moments from my trips!
What an interesting place! Thanks for sharing and happy travels 🙂
Such an interesting place! Sad I missed it when I was in Japan. Next time!