Postcard from Yutoku inari Shrine, Saga pref, Japan

 

This one of the most stunning shrines I've ever seen! Up on a hillside, well off the beaten track in rural Saga Prefecture, Yutoku Inari Shrine is an absolute belter!

Wow! I got the right bus after all!

I was not optimistic on the busride from Takeo Onsen, as I was the only person on the bus...was I on the right one (never really know in Japan!)? The bus terminus itself was even less inspiring, just a gravel turning area, and not a soul around. But I followed the signs and along the main drag beyond a large stone torii, familiar trinket shops & snack vendors came into view. And then around a corner, wow! The view (above) was breathtaking. Couldn't help but congratulate myself for persevering to get here.

The weather was spot on; the leaves were just changing; not too many tourists though a few charmless ones walking through my photographs (not half as bad as Dazaifu though!). I hope my photos do the complex justice - full set is here on Flickr - every footsteep revealed another gorgeous angle or detail. Very Japanese contrast of colours. What I really was not expecting was the path up behind the shrine, through countless bright, and older more faded, red torii. A steep climb, and not for the faint-hearted (witness the 9 or 'rescue stations' along the way) though there were a number of people considerably older than my staggering up the roughly hewn steps.

How many torii? Hundreds!

The view from the top of the hill was also very rewarding - Saga airport in the distance across the sea, and a chance to suck in some air, share knowing smiles with other game hillclimbers that we'd just hiked up an incomparable, culturally & spiritually unique, path through the gods.

A must visit, off the tourist route, photographers' dream. Skip Kyoto & Asakusa!

Just in time for autumn