Fushimi Inari Taisha (??????) is the head shrine of the god Inari, located in Fushimi Ward in Kyoto, 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.
First and foremost, Inari is the god of rice, but merchants and manufacturers have traditionally worshiped Inari as the patron of business. Each of the torii at Fushimi Inari Taisha has been donated by a Japanese business.
This popular shrine is said to have as many as 32,000 sub-shrines (bunsha (??)) throughout Japan.
Video Fushimi Inari-taisha
History
The shrine became the object of imperial patronage during the early Heian period. In 965, Emperor Murakami decreed that messengers carry written accounts of important events to the guardian kami of Japan. These heihaku were initially presented to 16 shrines, including the Inari Shrine.
From 1871 through 1946, Fushimi Inari-taisha was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (????), meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.
Structures
The earliest structures were built in 711 on the Inariyama hill in southwestern Kyoto, but the shrine was re-located in 816 on the request of the monk K?kai. The main shrine structure was built in 1499. At the bottom of the hill are the main gate (??, r?mon, "tower gate") and the main shrine (???, go-honden). Behind them, in the middle of the mountain, the inner shrine (??, okumiya) is reachable by a path lined with thousands of torii. To the top of the mountain are tens of thousands of mounds (?, tsuka) for private worship.
Senbon torii
The highlight of the shrine is the rows of torii gates this is called Senbon torii. The custom to donate a torii started to spread since the Edo period (1603 - 1868) to get a wish to become true or to thank for a wish that became true. Along the main path there are around 10,000 torii gates.
Maps Fushimi Inari-taisha
Fox
Foxes (kitsune), regarded as the messengers, are often found in Inari shrines. One attribute is a key (for the rice granary) in their mouths.
Unlike most Shinto shrines, Fushimi Inari Taisha, in keeping with typical Inari shrines, has an open view of the main idol object (a mirror).
A drawing in Kiyoshi Nozaki's Kitsune: Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance and Humor in 1786 depicting the shrine says that its two-story entry gate was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
The shrine draws several million worshipers over the Japanese New Year, 2.69 million for 3 days in 2006 reported by the police, the most in western Japan.
Access
The shrine is just outside the Inari Station on the Nara Line of the West Japan Railway Company (JR), a five-minute ride from Kyoto Station. It is a short walk from Fushimi-Inari Station on the Main Line of the Keihan Electric Railway.
The shrine is open 24 hours with both the approach to the shrine and the Honden (??, main hall) itself illuminated all night. There is no entrance fee.
Environs
In the approach to the shrine are a number of sweet shops selling tsujiura senbei (????), a form of fortune cookie dating at least to the 19th century, and which are believed by some to be the origin of the Chinese-American fortune cookie.
In popular culture
- Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
- Aria the Natural ep. 5 (2006)
- Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha (2010)
- Rurouni Kenshin, site of Makoto Shishio's base
- Kamen Rider Fourze ep. 33 (2012)
- Samsara (2011)
- O-Inari JK Tamamo Chan! (2017)
A part of the Noh play Kokaji takes place in Fushimi Inari-taisha.
See also
- List of Shinto shrines
- Twenty-Two Shrines
- Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines
Notes
References
- Breen, John and Mark Teeuwen. (2000). Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2363-4
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (1998). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). Studies in Shinto and Shrines. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 399449
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Smyers, Karen A. (1997). Inari pilgrimage: Following one's path on the mountain, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 24 (3-4), 427-452
External links
- Official Site (ja)
- Official Site (en)
- Photographs of Fushimi Inari-taisha
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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