Gaijin Guide to the Fushimi Inari Shrine!

So I climbed (read crawled) to the top of the Inari shrine last week, at about 3 in the afternoon, in the humid Japanese heat, but there are few things I sort of wish I knew before I set out to climb the monster that is the Inari mountain, so I thought I'd write a bit of a 'guide' to the shrine, for those who are completely unaware.

Bring a drink with you
So it sounds silly, but when I left for the Fushimi Inari shrine, I didn't really do my research on it. All I knew about it, was that there were lots of Inari shrines, all in a row, or in a circuit, at least. What I didn't know was that the circuit was 2km long, and up a 233m high mountain. I didn't know this until I got there. Me and my friends didn't really gauge how long it would take us until we had already walked for an hour and had barely started, according to the 'you are here' map. I bought myself a can of melon soda for 150yen at a vending machine, and after that had gone, and we realised we had much further to go, I wish I had bought my own drink with me. The drinks got slightly more expensive as you climbed up the shrine, and at the crossroads I bought a bottle of water for 200yen, which managed to last me until we were finished. But yeah, bringing a drink with you is a good plan.

Bug Spray!
Get some bug repellent! If you're lucky, like most of my group, you will come away with one or two bites. If you are unlucky, like me, you will come away with (as far as I've counted) thirty. So get some bug repellent to try and stop this from being a thing. Because it was a thing, it is a thing, and it is not a very pleasant thing.

Set aside a lot of time to do it
Don't assume it won't take you long, because it will, especially if you want to see as much as possible. Don't be scared to stray from the path or take a closer look at the shrines. At the beginning, we didn't get too close because we weren't sure if we should, but after seeing Japanese people get closer to some of the shrines, we decided it was ok. However, after a certain point, we stopped going to have a close look, because we were exhausted. Climbing steps up a mountain takes it's toll! But we did have a good look at the Zodiac shrine near the bottom on the way down, that one was brilliant, so I recommend giving that a look, too.

So those are the basic warnings. If you have any other questions about the Inari shrine, or Japan in general, just let me know. You can find more photos either on my facebook, or there will be a link to my pictures on the right hand side of my blog!