The ancient city of Kyoto is home to some 1600 Buddhist temples and more than 400 Shinto shrines. Dating back to 711 A.D., Fushimi Inari has been dedicated to the Shinto god of rice and sake, harvest and prosperity. In Japan, torii gates, like the ones here, are a pathway or entrance to the sacred Shinto shrine; it is the boundary between the secular world and the holy realm. Ehen one walks through the torii gate, one has stepped into the domain of the deity. The Fushimi Inari path is unforgettable for its thousands of vermilion torii gateways which lead through a forest beneath the sacred Mount Inari. It is no small experience to be enveloped by the 10,000 gateways of ember and to be with the people of Japan who so treasure their shrines.