Fushimi Inari Taisha
Today, we went to Fushimi Inari Taisha, a shrine dedicated to the God Inari, former keeper of agriculture and grains, modern keeper of luck in business.
We normally worship at Sanjusangendo this time of year, but added this to our list, since we're growing the business and it's relevant. Plus, it has 4km of beautiful Torii on the grounds, as shown below.
We walked probably half of the grounds and purchased our good luck charms for money, business, work and health at the second summit of the shrine.
The shrine is guarded by kitsune, or foxes, who tend to hold the key to the rice granary in their mouths. Here's one shown below.
After we finished with this, we went and paid our respects at Sanjusangendo, where we purchased our Daikoku "Merchant Good Luck" charms for the year and deposited last year's back from whence they came.
Then we did some good, old-fashioned shopping.
I found a lovely little Christian Dior necklace that I loved for a surprisingly cheap price at one of what Pete and I term the "blow job" shops. Many men in Japan have mistresses, and in order to keep them interested, the men tend to buy them the latest designer goods. When those goods go out of fashion, or when their men buy them things they don't like, the girls hock them at these special designer goods pawn shops. It's really hilarious, but you can find just about anything for a cut-rate price, sometimes new, sometimes used.
It's always fun to shop around and see what you can dig up. I believe this Dior necklace is probably from the late 70s or early 80s and not such a desirable item to most, judging from the price. Either that, or it's a fake, but it certainly feels like real silver and looks in great condition, so I love it either way. It was a good purchase.
We normally worship at Sanjusangendo this time of year, but added this to our list, since we're growing the business and it's relevant. Plus, it has 4km of beautiful Torii on the grounds, as shown below.
We walked probably half of the grounds and purchased our good luck charms for money, business, work and health at the second summit of the shrine.
The shrine is guarded by kitsune, or foxes, who tend to hold the key to the rice granary in their mouths. Here's one shown below.
After we finished with this, we went and paid our respects at Sanjusangendo, where we purchased our Daikoku "Merchant Good Luck" charms for the year and deposited last year's back from whence they came.
Then we did some good, old-fashioned shopping.
I found a lovely little Christian Dior necklace that I loved for a surprisingly cheap price at one of what Pete and I term the "blow job" shops. Many men in Japan have mistresses, and in order to keep them interested, the men tend to buy them the latest designer goods. When those goods go out of fashion, or when their men buy them things they don't like, the girls hock them at these special designer goods pawn shops. It's really hilarious, but you can find just about anything for a cut-rate price, sometimes new, sometimes used.
It's always fun to shop around and see what you can dig up. I believe this Dior necklace is probably from the late 70s or early 80s and not such a desirable item to most, judging from the price. Either that, or it's a fake, but it certainly feels like real silver and looks in great condition, so I love it either way. It was a good purchase.