walking through the gates

Senbon Torii ( Thousand Torii gates) Kyoto 8/21/25

It was 2005 ,10 years before my daughter was born. We were walking in the middle of NYC and I saw 2 steel structures standing on the ground with saffron- hued drapes over the top. Right in the middle of the city, 7,503 gates were installed along 23 miles of pathways in central park from February 12-27,2005.

I remember looking up at the drapes, walking through the park.

I remember someone gave me a tiny swatch of the saffron hued fabric as a remembrance. I took it home.

That was the art installation in New York City by the husband and wife team Christo and Jeanne.

20 years later, we found ourselves across the globe.

7,000 miles from Central park,

I walked in the Senbon Torii gates of Fushimi Inari shrine In Kyoto.

It has over 10,000 Torii gates.

It reminded me of of that day in NYC at the park.

My daughter missed it. I wanted her to walk with us

but she chose to play on the phone with her cousin instead.

I was frustrated with her choice for that moment in time.

She waited in front of the shrine with her cousin

while we walked on.

It was an understatement to say that I was disappointed with her choice.

I wanted to show her something that I remembered 20 years ago,

but my frustration and disappointment were short- lived.

Thanks to the green tea gelato .

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine Kyoto 8-21-25

Photo credit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gates Christos & Jean's The Gates Central Park 2005