Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16817330655169485668/episodes/16817330664465458823
Today, the second day of the school trip, we left the hotel and went sightseeing in Kyoto. Today was a free day, so we were free to do whatever we wanted.
“As I thought, Fushimi Inari is very crowded,”
“Yeah, it’s no wonder it was voted the number one popular tourist spot in Kyoto.”
“Ryoya, onee chan, let’s go quickly.”
At the urging of Reona, who had the same expression as usual but seemed a bit excited, Reona and I passed through the large torii gate and began to proceed into the shrine.
As the name “Inari” implies, there were statues of foxes here and there in the shrine grounds. After purifying our hands at the water closet, we went to the main hall to pay our respects.
Incidentally, at the kaguraden (a hall for Shinto music and dance) right next to the main hall, if we were lucky, we could see a miko (shrine maiden) dance and a kagura performance during a Shinto ritual. Well, I could not see them this time because of bad timing.
“What did Reona and Riona wish for?”
“That’s a secret.”
“Well, if we tell people, it might not come true.”
I was curious what they wished for, but they didn’t tell me. After praying, we finally started to head for the Senbon-torii, the gateway to the shrine that we had been waiting for.
“I knew I wanted to see this view when I said Fushimi Inari”
“Yes, it is no exaggeration to say that I came here because I wanted to see this.”
When we arrived in front of the tunnel of torii gates, Reona and Riona began taking pictures, being careful not to disturb others.
This was my first visit to Fushimi Inari, but I can certainly understand why I felt compelled to take pictures. The view was that breathtaking.
“Okay, that’s enough pictures, let’s get going,”
“Yeah, we have a long way to go, so let’s keep going.
“I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.”
We started walking on the right side of the tunnel with two rows of torii gates. After that, we followed the road until we saw a building.
“What is that building?”
“That’s a place called Okusha Bokusho, the inner sanctuary.”
“Hee, Riona really knows her stuff, doesn’t she?”
“I studied it carefully before I came here.”
Hearing Reona’s impressed voice, she looked a little proud.
“Oh, there’s something unusual over there.”
“Um, what is it …… omokaru-ishi?”
Reona responded to my words and read out the name on the sign. As I wondered what kind of blessing it could bring, Reona gave me an explanation.
“‘Omokaruseki’ is a round stone on top of a stone lantern that you lift up while making a wish.”
“Hee, really?”
“Well, since we’re here, let’s try it too.”
It’s a stone, so normally you would think it would be heavy, but since it’s called an omokaruseki, it could be lighter than one would think.
I lifted it up with this thought in mind, but it was extremely heavy. It was so heavy that I thought it might be attached to a stone lantern.
“……No, no, no, it’s not light at all. Who would feel this is light?”
“I-it’s light.”
“It doesn’t matter if you lie.”
Reona was trying to act casual, but her expression clearly revealed it. I’m sure your wish won’t come true unless you’re extremely muscular.
We heard that there were many people who turned back after arriving at the Okusha shrine, but we were determined to go on.
“By the way, there are a thousand torii gates, I wonder how many there actually are?”
“The name definitely suggests that there must be more than 1,000 torii, but I’m curious.”
It is said that there are about eight hundred Senbon-torii.
As soon as Reona and I were talking about our doubts, Riona answered.
“What? It’s called Senbon-torii, but there aren’t a thousand of them.”
“Senbon-torii means a thousand gates, not the exact number, but so many that you can’t count them all, hence the name.”
“I see, so that’s what the name means.”
It was true that in the old days, the number “thousand” was used to mean “so many,” so it made sense. The three of us continued walking for a while, and when we were getting tired, we saw a rest area.
“I’m getting tired, let’s take a break there,”
“Yeah, I guess so. Riona is getting tired too.”
The three of us stopped at the rest stop and decided to take a break and have lunch there.
“It’s refreshing,”
“Yeah, I was so thirsty and hungry, I felt like I had a hundred times more energy.”
“Delicious.”
We were having such a conversation while eating oyakodon and kitsune udon. We had eaten a hearty breakfast at the hotel, but the fact that we were so hungry meant that we must have been very tired.
“After climbing to the top, I’d like to go to Arashiyama as we had talked about before, are Ryoya kun and Riona okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“That’s fine.”
“Okay, then we need to look up the route from Fushimi Inari to Arashiyama.”
Reona started to look up the route from Fushimi Inari to Arashiyama on the map app on her phone. Isn’t it a little too early to be thinking about this, when we haven’t even arrived at the top of Fushimi Inari yet?
Well, both Reona and Riona wanted to go to Arashiyama, so maybe they are looking forward to it that much.
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