Has anyone had any strange experiences in Fushimi Inari at night?

14 comments

1. it’s easy to get sacred to mingle with scared, doing so is part of why Fushimi is fun at night

2. Boars. Wild boars.

3. Nah, I’ve been there a few times alone at 9 pm till 10 and met some people along the walk, and nothing happened.

   But, this Monday. I met two wild boars for the first time. They just ate stuff and mind their business.

4. Went with my daughter on a night hike, just the normal path, and it was heavenly silent. Saw some wild boars close to the entrance though

5. [kyotopia podcast episode halloween special.](https://pca.st/episode/026919d1-914a-4bd5-8112-5ccedd68af91)

6. Love going there at night. True story – went for a solo night hike years back and was the only person on the trails up. About halfway I ran into a man from Bermuda. We decided to finish the trail together and had an altogether pleasant time until he disappeared into some mist.

7. Watch out for the tengu 👺

8. During my visit to Japan this November, I had a memorable experience at Fushimi Inari Shrine. I visited it between midnight and 3 a.m. under rather unique circumstances. Earlier that day, I hurt my foot and had to stay in bed while in Kyoto. By nighttime, I was overwhelmed with regret for wasting an entire day in a country I considered a once in a lifetime destination. Adding to that, I had no proper itinerary for my trip, so everything felt unplanned.

   At around 11 p.m., I asked ChatGPT for recommendations on places in Kyoto that were open late, and Fushimi Inari Shrine popped up. Without knowing much about it, I decided to go. Once there, I found myself surrounded by endless rows of torii gates. Out of sheer curiosity, I kept walking, wanting to see where the path would lead. Little did I know it was a full 2-3 hour trek up a mountain!

   Despite my injured foot, I was determined to reach the top. The higher I went, the darker it got, and some sections near the summit weren’t even lit. I encountered only 5-6 other people along the way, which added to the eeriness. At one point, I veered off the main path and found myself walking through a forest trail using my phone flashlight. It was pitch dark and utterly silent, with only the ambient sounds of water and the occasional rustle of animals. It was both thrilling and nerve-wracking, so I turned back after about 15 minutes.

   Reaching on top felt like a personal victory, and the tranquility of the shrine in the dead of night was surreal

   https://preview.redd.it/686bld3rp66e1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49ad0043da8ce81c86561745d20ea0f88d9fb2ec

   . After descending, I hopped on a Loop electric bike and made my way back to my hostel, finally reaching around 4 a.m. Despite the challenges, this unplanned adventure became one of the most unforgettable moments of my trip.

9. Just the foxes playing their tricks on you. XD

10. I like the whole mountain during the day, and the shrine in particular at night. Was walking it at night with my wife [her first time at Fushimi Inari) at the very end of a week-ish in Kyoto, and we got to San-no-tsuji when she wanted to go back. We went down the easy slope straight west (towards the cats, I think?), and saw a boar on the side of the road.

11. There’s boars all around and tbh, hey scared the shit out of me one time😂

12. It’s my final night in Kyoto and you guys are tempting me to try it lol. Have been there during daytime six years ago though.

13. I don’t know if you believe it but us locals believe that once you are past the main torii gates you entered Kami’s domain.
    Anything off the main path is off limits for humans especially at night.
    Humans are supposed to stay within the torii vermillion gates so they souls don’t wonder into the other world hence the word “gate”.

    When you enter and exit, we alwats bow. We also don’t step on the edge of the torii gates or you “slip off”.

    I lives here for a long time and pray at Fushimi for a good harvest for my company, foxes are known to be kami’s messengers so if you did see weird stuff then I won’t doubt you.

14. I did a 10pm – 2am hike there back in 2019, taking lots of breaks for pictures as I was hauling my gear with me and enjoying the calmness, peoplelessness, of the area.

    There were a few things that happened that night that had a weird feeling about them, one more than the others, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

    The first was a man dressed in an all white Gi or other traditional clothing which had bells attached to the belt; I assume maybe he was a monk of some sort, but the specific attire was not what I was used to seeing. Anyway, he was running at full speed through the place, like not a jog, a full on sprint through the torii and right up the giant stone stairs at the base of the mountain. The first time he passed me I was in the middle of the gates taking photos, if not for the bells I would’ve had no idea something was coming, that said he still flew past me like a blur.

    Much later, probably halfway up the mountain(?), I started hearing the bells again, i figured he must be on his way down since I hadn’t reached the split path yet, but suddenly he flew past me again, coming from the bottom of the mountain. I could swear it was the same one, I suppose it’s possible that it was another guy, but for the remainder of the night I didn’t see a single other person on the mountain.

    The second was near the top of the mountain, I was again stopped along some area that I thought had really interesting lighting and was trying out a whole lot of different shots. That’s when I heard the leaves rustling in front of me, followed by snorting and leaves being kicked around by something that seemed ready to charge. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but clearly some boar had had enough of me, and I made the choice to slowly pickup my tripod, camera still attached, and hoof it further up the path until I didn’t hear anything. Sure enough, something gave chase for a good minute or two before losing interest.

    At this point, I decided I’d taken enough pictures and opted to pack things up for a more ‘observant’ hike down the mountain. This ended up being relatively uneventful until I neared the bottom.

    There’s a spot on the path somewhere near the bottom where it forks, here there is a sign with a map showing you the trail area. I stood here for a few minutes, just to get my bearings and figure out which way I wanted to go, since I entered via one fork and I decided I wanted to exit using the other. It was early spring and the night wasn’t too cold, although being from Canada, what’s considered cold in Japan doesn’t typically bother me; suddenly, I was hit with this overwhelming sense of dread, or at least that’s how I would describe it, but I felt the blood in my body go ice cold and more a money it felt like couldn’t move. Something inside me was telling me I had to leave, now. Not even three steps forward, my body temperature, blood temperature, whatever feeling hit me, went back to normal immediately; it’s as if I’d stepped out of some freak cold spot.

    I consider myself a pretty big skeptic, but that experience as I was leaving the mountain kind of shook me, I cannot adequately explain exactly how I felt, but needless to say I got off the mountain as fast as I could after that.