Keripo's Corner Figures, Dollfies, Projects, Gaming, and TYPE-MOON
This was the first actual do-stuff day of this Japan trip, and the plan for me was yet another visit to Tenshi no Sato, but this time with my completed Arcueid Dollfie. sorrowmoon had scheduled our visit for the afternoon, so I decided to spent part of the morning with the rest of the group visiting the Fushimi Inari shrine yet again.
Arcueid chilling at the Fushimi Inari shrine
Japanese breakfast at the ryokan/hotel! Consisting of tofu, fruit bits, cheese balls with some sauce, preserved radish, bowl of tea, some spinnach?, piece of fish, egg, strip of seaweed, rice, and miso soup. Actually ended up not liking most of the things, but was worth a try!
The news reports were covering the typhoon from yesterday, and doing some “how deep can your car go before you can’t open the door anymore” simulations
Luckily the weather outside looked alright for us
On our way to the train station, we noticed the Kansai Line has been suspended. If there’s anything you can count on in Japan, it’s the punctuality of Japanese trains, but guess it took a natural disaster to stop this one.
The Shinkansen was still running though luckily
Melon pan (melon bread, though only in name) for breakfast. Shana would be jealous.
While waiting for the train, spotted a few girls in yukatas. It’s obon festival time in Kyoto after all.
A zetsubou sensei was standing alone in the corner. We were wondering why at first…
…and then we realized it was because that train line had been canceled, so everyone had squished over to the single running line. Was pretty crowded.
We eventually arrived at Fushimi’s Inari shrine, which was bubbling with tourists
Wash you hands/face/etc. with “holy water”, also supposedly safe to drink (just make sure to follow the instructions posted there)
Walking around the shrine, you see tons of bright orange and gold
The main prayer location. Throw a 5-yen coin in, ring the bell, clap your hands twice, then make a prayer. Cynically known as the place where you wish your problems get solved by throwing money at them :)
There’s also plenty more places to throw money at all around the shrine’s main area
Tons of torii (Shinto shrine gates) shaped emas (wish boards). One main source of income for the shrines
Some of the wishes were written in English. One actually said “I wish XXX would become mai waifu” but my pic of that came out blurry and I didn’t recognize the name :(
Priest talking with some officer behind the shrine
The Fushimi inari shrine is best known for its thousands of toriis that line the mountain path. Here’s a not-to-scale map of the trail path.
And so we started our journey up the mountain
Did I mention that there were lots of toriis?
At one point, the path converges to two very densely packed paths of toriis. They both lead to the same place though
Sam taking a picture of Chris taking a picture of me taking a picture of Sam. Inside the the lines of toriis of course.
We came across a place featuring kitsune-faced emas. As expected, there were a handful of anime ones featuring drawings of kitsunemimis~ ;3
They were sale for 500 yen only, so I bought one, just so I could draw on it
Apparently it’s supposed to be Byakko (white tiger) but I still think they look more like kitsunemimis. I blame BadHanD >_>
So I was originally planning on drawing Meiro~D but I quickly realized how little space I had so I somehow managed to change it into a crappy Neco-Arc instead. Oh well, I’ll prepare next time.
Alright, back to more torii’s yay!
There was a section where you can pay 1 million yen or more to get your own personal shrine area
At one of the rest areas, I decided to bring out Arcueid and take some pics of her sitting in front of some mini toriis. The passersbys were looking at me weird for taking pictures of a doll in the middle of nowhere (remember, DDs aren’t a common hobby and this isn’t even anywhere near Akihabara), but I didn’t really care anyway :P
After a long while of walking (a good 2-3 hours by now), we had gotten high enough to see somewhat of a view.
Apparently we were only halfway up, but I would have to leave first to make the Tenshi no Sato appointment, so I decided to start heading back down
But not before first grabbing some delicious ramune-flavoured ice cream :3
Was much faster getting down then up of course, and I decided to grab a good luck charm for a friend and myself
Few more random shots of the area before I left
Some pics of Arcueid hanging around the main shrine area
On the train ride back, I was sitting beside two Japanese girls in nice sakura-petal-designed yukatas. They were kind enough to let me take a picture of them after we got off the train ^_^
That was it for Fushimi’s inari shrine. Next up, the (mis)adventures of sorrowmoon and Keripo with Arcueid at Tenshi no Sato!
~Keripo
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157647046406125
MyFigureCollection: http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/16517
Figure.fm: http://www.figure.fm/en/post/54166/Japan+2014+Fushimi+Inari+Shrine.html
