Fushimi inari taisha is one of the most distinctive and important shrines in Kyoto and Japan overall.

Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice.

Rice is so important in Japanese society that it has been called the essence of the culture. More than just a food source it was also a measure of wealth and power. The amount of rice production measured in koku was the metric by which the magnitude of a feudal domain was evaluated. A feudal lord was only considered daimyō class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000 koku.
As a rule of thumb, one koku was considered sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year.

Another feature associated with Inari were foxes. Foxes are thought to be Inari's messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the shrine grounds.

Foxes—including those directly serving Inari—may help or hurt, provide benevolence or malevolence.
Coming and going with little notice, they receive both credit and blame for many things.

It is believed that while the foxes can shapeshift—they like masquerading as humans for mischief—they must always speak the truth.

At the shrine's entrance stands the Romon Gate, which was donated in 1589 by the famous leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a Japanese samurai and daimyo of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan. Hideyoshi rose from a peasant background to become one of the most powerful men in Japan.

Behind the Roman gate stands the shrine's main hall (honden) where visitors should pay respect to the resident deity by making a small offering.

At the very back of the shrine's main grounds is the entrance to the torii gate-covered hiking trail, which starts with two dense, parallel rows of gates called Senbon Torii ("thousands of torii gates"). The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, and you will find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The cost starts around 400,000 yen for a small sized gate and increases to over one million yen for a large gate.

The color of the shrine and torii gates are also significant as the red-orange color referred to as vermillion is thought to be a protective color against evil forces

The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours, however, visitors are free to walk just as far as they wish before turning back. Along the way, there are multiple smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is located just outside JR Inari Station, the second station from Kyoto Station along the JR Nara Line (5 minutes, 150 yen one way from Kyoto Station.

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