Steve McCurry’s best-known project on Japan dates to 2011, when he visited the country in the aftermath of the environmental catastrophe that devastated many of its regions.
However, McCurry had traveled to Japan several times before, always with the attentive eye of a photographer able to capture the country’s subtle beauty—such as in his famous image of a geisha riding the subway, a perfect symbol of harmony between tradition and modernity.
One of Japan’s most iconic sites also caught his attention: the Fushimi Inari Shrine, founded in the 8th century.
Located in Kyoto, it is one of the most visited Shinto shrines in the country. Reaching it involves walking uphill through a long succession of vermilion torii gates—an ascetic and spiritual path of purification capable of stirring even the most rational minds.