Fushimi Inari Hike

What?
Fushimi Inari Shrine 伏見稲荷大社 This shrine in Kyoto 京都 is an important one, which you can already know by it's designation 'taisha'. It is the most important shrine of all the ones venerating Inari, the Shinto god of rice represented by foxes. The shrine is famous for its paths sheltered by thousands of torii. Hiking through all these torii can take you back to the head shrine, or you can decide to take a turn somewhere and end up in Tofukuji 東福寺, a huge zen temple.
Where?
The JR Inari Station 稲荷駅 is the closest one to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, while going back I used the JR Tofukuji Station 東福寺駅.
URL
Japan Guide Outline

Using my "Lonely Planet Hiking in Japan" for the first time, I went off to the Fushimi Inari shrine to take the long torii path, but also to look for spots less visited.

As I have a very bad sense of orientation - or better said no sense of orientation - I arrived quite early at a point that I thought I was lost. Well, obviously, with such a clear torii path it is hard to get lost, but I did not find the exit as described in Lonely Planet. So somewhere near the peak of Inari mountain I took a turn to the right to descend some steep staircases. They lead to a "hidden" shrine with a small waterfall. It was not actually hidden, but definitely off the beaten track. Sometimes in Japan, the best trips are those without any people around. Being alone in Japan is like a breath of fresh air.

Going back to the torii path, I walked parallel to it for a while to be reunited with it and the people taking it. Just at the point that I was planning to just walk the path back to the entrance, I found the exit Lonely Planet was talking about. In my enthusiasm that for once I was not lost, I walked in a circle back to the way I came from. Eventually though, I took to correct path to Tofukuji and enjoyed the huge buildings and laid-back gardens for a while. While this temple is definitely more beautiful in any other season, the lack of other visitors was a plus and gave me "zen" feeling.
Leaving the temple through the main gate I got back on the train to my town to relax in the sofa with a beer.