Fushimi Inari: the mountain of torii
A thousand vermilion gates up a sacred mountain, the fox messengers, the view at the saddle. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Romon gate and the main shrine
Out of Inari station and the great vermilion *Romon* gate is right there, donated by the warlord Hideyoshi in 1589. Pay your respects at the main *taisha* (grand shrine) hall behind it, then look for the fox statues — the *kitsune* are Inari's messengers, a key in the mouth for the rice granary.

2. The Senbon Torii
Behind the shrine the path splits into two parallel tunnels of close-packed gates — the *Senbon Torii*, the thousand *torii* (shrine gates). Take the right-hand tunnel up. Each gate is paid for by a business; read the black characters on the back as you climb.

3. Okusha Hohaisho and the lifting stones
Where the two tunnels rejoin, the inner shrine hangs with hundreds of miniature *torii* and fox-faced *ema* plaques. Try the *omokaru-ishi* — lift the stone lantern's stone and make a wish; if it's lighter than you expected, the wish comes true. It never is.

4. Yotsutsuji crossing
The climb to the saddle is the real work — twenty minutes of steps and gates. At *Yotsutsuji* the trees open and the whole south of the city lies below you. Most people turn back here, and there's no shame in it; the summit loop adds another hour for diminishing views.

5. The summit loop and Ichinomine
If you carry on, the path circles the peak past a string of small shrines to *Ichinomine*, the topmost. Go clockwise — the signs assume it. The reward is solitude rather than panorama; the gates thin and the forest closes in. You don't have to; Yotsutsuji is the honest turnaround.

6. Vermillion Café and the descent
Coming down, the slopes hold a few tea houses; the one near Yotsutsuji does *kitsune udon* — noodles topped with the sweet fried tofu the foxes supposedly love. Finish the descent past the lower sub-shrines and bear left for the Keihan line at Fushimi-Inari, a different station from the one you started at.

Fushimi Inari: the mountain of torii