Do You Dohyo - Day 5 - Adventures by Disney Japan - Fushimi Inari, Todai-ji Temple, Sumo, Takayama

1:11 Fushimi Inari Shrine
2:47 Senbon Torii
5:38 Todai-ji Temple
8:14 Sumo Experience
20:00 Takayama

Do you Dohyo is the name of Day 5 of our Adventures by Disney Japan trip. But before we visit the dohyo later today, we first start the day with a visit to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which line a network of trails. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari.
Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice.

The Torii represents a gateway, that signals the transition from the profane (or not sacred) to the sacred. While Torii are usually located at the entrance to Shinto shrines, the Torii doesn’t necessary only mark the entrance to a shrine, but is also used to simply mark an area believe to have a deep religious meaning.

The god Inari is worshipped at Inari shrines. This deity also known as the god of rice, grants a wide variety of prayers, from better crop output, business prosperity, being completely cured of any illness, and prayers for academic success.

The Romon or tower gate, is a two-storied gate used in Japan. Even though it was originally developed by Buddhist architecture, it is now used at both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

This building is said to have been built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1589. He was a feudal lord and chief Imperial minister, who completed the 16th-century unification of Japan. He was known as the second great unifier of Japan.

It is said that when Hideyoshi’s mother fell ill, he prayed to Inari Okami, pledging to donate 10,000 goku if she recovered. Goku was the currency to show the wealth of a town at that time). To put that in context, 1 Goku means the amount of rice 1 person needed to live for 1 year.

When people hear of the Fushimi Inari shrine, the immediately think of the thousands of Torii gates senbon that line the trails in the mountains behind the main shrine buildings.

In Japan, red is a symbol of fire and the sun, which is also considered as the color of life. This shade of red is called vermilion which is believed to reject evil spirits, danger, and bad luck.

These torii gates are not just meant as decorations. If you look closely, there is writing on each torii. This shows that that particular torii has been dedicated to the shrine by an individual or group. This is an act known as hono, or the dedication of valuable items to deities in temples and shrines.

There is a custom that, if wishes come true for someone that has visited and prayed at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, they will revisit and dedicate a torii to the shrine. Most of the time it is successful businessmen who will follow this custom.

As a result of this practice, the impressive and beautiful sight of thousands of torii gates has been created and preserved. This shows just how many wishes the deity Inari has answered.
Here are two of the many foxes or Kitsune in Japanese. It is believed that the foxes are messengers to the god Inari and the key in their mouth are to the rice graneries.

No one is really quite sure how Inari became associated with these creatures, but its said it is because foxes eat rats which eat rice which is Inari’s principal protection

After leaving Fushimi Inari, we head South toward Nara to our next stop, the Todai-ji Temple.

Before entering the main temple, we pass through the Great South Gate or Nandaimon.

The 19-meter high entrance gate to Tōdai-ji, is a reconstruction dating to 1199, replacing the original gate which was destroyed in 1180.

The temple is guarded by two 28-foot tall statues, each with one hand up (to welcome those with pure hearts) and one hand down (to suppress impure hearts). The open-mouthed statue on the left is called "Agyo", meaning beginning or birth.
The closed-mouth statue on the right is called "Ungyo", meaning the ending or death.

The great buddah hall has to be big because it contains a 49 ft high cast bronze statue of a seated Buddha or Daibutsu, the largest such statue in the world and weighing in at around 500 tons.

A statue of Kokuzo Bosatsu, God of Wisdom
Behind the Daibutsu, on his left, we see Tamonten, Guardian of the North, he who hears all, and the chief of the four heavenly kings

Behind the Daibutsu, on his right, is Kōmokuten, the King of the West, he who sees all.

After lunch we continue on to Katsuragi city where we took part in a Sumo experience. Next to the parking lot was a local rice farm.

After our Sumo experience, we make our way to the charming city of Takayama, nestled in the mountainous region of Hida - also known as the gateway to the Japanese Alps.

Ishikari Lore by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
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Видео Do You Dohyo - Day 5 - Adventures by Disney Japan - Fushimi Inari, Todai-ji Temple, Sumo, Takayama канала Stu Chang