Fushima Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社) (Kyoto, Japan)

Day two in Kyoto led us to some of the more well-known temples and shrines. This day we opted for doing it all on bike (vs. bus and walking the day before). An object of Imperial patronage in the early Heian period (794-1185), Fushima Inari Shrine is the shrine of 1000 gates. The earliest structures were built in 711 on the Inariyama hill in southwestern Kyoto (far away from everything else), but the shrine was re-located in 816 on the request of the monk Kūkai. The inner shrine is led to by hundreds of these orange "torii" or gates. This bright vibrant orange is the color to ward off evil spirits in the Shinto religion. It was really sweet.