Yutoku Inari Shrine, Japan

This photo shows Yutoku Inari Shrine, one of Japan’s most famous and beautiful Inari shrines. It is located in Kashima City, in southern Japan, on Kyushu Island. The area is known for its rice-farming culture and stunning scenery. Rice fields are nestled among volcanic mountains covered with green forests.

This shrine was founded in 1687 by the wife of the local lord and is dedicated to Inari, the Shinto deity of rice, prosperity, and foxes. The shrine has a majestic, vermilion-lacquered complex built into the steep hillside of a valley. The main hall stands on tall wooden beams 18 meters above the ground, and the shrine grounds are decorated with thousands of red torii gates. The shrine has been constantly renovated and enlarged over the years, attracting millions of visitors annually.

If you plan on visiting this shrine, it holds some unique festivals a few times a year.

Shichigosan Festival is a celebration for children who are three, five, or seven years old. It is held from mid-October to late November. During the festival, chitosan candies are given out at the shrine. Kids can also wear little fox masks.

Shuki Taisai Festival – is a fire-making ceremony that is held on December 8. It is a ritual to thank and pacify the spirits of Inari, the god of rice, prosperity, and foxes. A large bonfire is lit before the shrine, and visitors can warm up with the divine fire and pray for happiness in the coming year. The shrine also offers amazake, a sweet drink made from new rice, to the visitors.

I used a few techniques to process this photo of the Yutoku Inari Shrine.

First, I shot it for the HDR style with three shots bracketed. Then, I merged them in Photomatix and applied many Color Efex Pro filters. Finally, I moved it to Photoshop, where I added some texture and used high-pass sharpening techniques.