Picture of the day

PHOTO BY MASA

Picture of the day on Japan Today.  Instantly recognisable as Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari, and without doubt my favourite place in the city. The caption for the picture runs as follows:

Fushimi Inari Shinto Shrine in Kyoto. Thousands of vermilion torii gates straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters. Inari is the god of rice and patron of business. Each of the torii is donated by a Japanese business.

Well, there’s a lot more that can be said about the shrine.  In fact, I did myself in a previous blog entry!  (click here.)

Another place that you could find out even more about it is in the brand new publication, Shinto Shrines, published by the University of Hawaii Press and written by Joseph Cali with John Dougill.  I just received my copy today and, if I may be so bold, it’s an impressive item packed with an encyclopedic amount of information.

One outstanding feature, in my most humble opinion, is the Introduction of some 50 pages of small print, which provides one of the clearest and most authoritative explications of Shinto of which I know.  All credit here has to go to Joseph Cali, who spent goodness knows how long researching the book.  Hopefully, it will remain a reliable resource for some time to come.  (For an interview with Cali about the book, please click here.)

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The hillside pulsates with spiritual expression.

A vista that beckons ever onwards and upwards

"But which is the right way to go?" asked Frodo. "Maybe there is no right way," answered Gandalf.