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Fox statues are often offered to Inari shrines by worshippers, and on occasion a stuffed and mounted fox is presented to a temple. At one time, some temples were home to live foxes that were venerated, but this is not current practice. [10] The Toyokawa Inari temple has a sign noting that live foxes were kept on site in the 1920s.
These fox statues hold a symbolic item in their mouths or beneath a front paw—most often a jewel and a key, but a sheaf of rice, a scroll, or a fox cub are all common. Almost all Inari shrines, no matter how small, will feature at least a pair of these statues, usually flanking or on the altar or in front of the main sanctuary. [ 36 ]
A pair of foxes at an Inari shrine. A variant of the komainu theme is the fox, acting as guardian of shrines dedicated to the Inari deity. [7] There are about 30 thousand Inari shrines in Japan, and the entrance of each is guarded by a pair of fox statues. [19]
The Reikozuka (霊狐塚, "Spirit Fox Mound"), featuring fox statues deposited by devotees. The temple was also known as 'Heihachirō Inari' (平八郎稲荷) due to a story involving its founder Tōkai Gieki.
Fushimi Inari-taisha (Japanese: 伏見稲荷大社) is the head shrine of the kami Inari, located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.The shrine sits at the base of a mountain, also named Inari, which is 233 metres (764 ft) above sea level, and includes trails up the mountain to many smaller shrines which span 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) and take approximately 2 hours to walk up. [1]
These fox statues hold a symbolic item in their mouths or beneath a front paw – most often a jewel and a key, but a sheaf of rice, a scroll, or a fox cub are common. Almost all Inari shrines, no matter how small, will feature at least a pair of these statues, usually flanking, on the altar, or in front of the main sanctuary. [55]
As the fox messengers of Inari Ōkami, myōbu are often depicted with white or light colored fur. [2] However, the foxes are usually invisible. [5] Statues of myōbu often come in pairs of a male and a female, with one holding a wish-fulfilling jewel and the other holding a key, scroll, bundle of rice, or a fox cub. [2]
Dedicated to Inari, the kami whose messengers are foxes, it is the third largest of its kind in Japan. It was constructed in 1688 as the family shrine of the Nabeshima clan who ruled what would become the Saga area (called Hizen at that time) during the Edo period.
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