FUSHIMI-INARI Shrine
One of the most popular subjects of photography of Japan is a torii gate. Fushimi-inari shrine has hundreds of them and the path of the torii is one of the most photographed sites in Kyoto. The shrine draws millions of visitors each year, especially over the Japanese New Year.
Fushimi-inari shrine is the head inari shrine of Japan. The word “inari” is an abbreviation for “Ine Nari” or “Ine ni naru,” which means “reaping of rice.” An inari shrine worships the kami Inari, which is a popular deity that helps rice production, household wellbeing, business prosperity, the performing arts, and general prosperity. Inari is associated with rice, sake, tea, fertility, foxes, agriculture, and industry. There are over 30,000 Buddhist and Shinto Inari shrines and sub-shrines located throughout Japan.
Inari shrines have guardian statues of foxes at their entrances. Foxes (kitsune) are the messengers of Inari. The kitsune figures come in pairs, a male and a female. They are often represented with sheaves of rice in their mouths or attached to other symbolic items.
Fushimi inari jinga was built in the 8th century by the Hata clan. The Hata clan was an influential clan originally from Korea. The Hata aligned with Emperor Kanmu, who made Heian-kyō (Kyoto) his capital.
A legend associated with Fushimi Inari involves Kūkai or Kobo Daishi, the founder of Shingon Buddhism. While ascending Inari Mountain, Kūkai met an old man whom he recognized as the rice kami, Inari. Kūkai built a shrine for the kami and inscribed on it the Chinese characters for “rice” and “sack.” Inari shrines grew in prominence and popularity in the ninth century when Inari was appointed the protector kami for Tōji Temple in Kyoto by Kobo Daishi.
Fushimi Inari prospered under imperial patronage during the Heian Period and it was one of the shrines that Emperor Murakami decreed that messengers carry written accounts of important events to the guardian kami of Japan. From 1871 through 1946, it was designed in the first rank of government supported shrines.
At the local level, the spread of Inari worship was increased by the kami’s adoption as a yashikigami, which functioned as an estate deity that are commonly enshrined on family land. Then businesses adopted the Inari for business success and prosperity. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the practice of dividing and re-enshrining deities to increase the status of the deity’s town or patron became a common practice, especially in the case of Inari. This practice continues today.
Fushimi Inari is on a mountain. At the bottom are the main gate (rōmon, “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 hundreds of torii. These are the famous senbon torii, the torii gates leading to the path of the inner shrine. Businesses since the Edo Period (1600-1867) have been donating senbon torii, for prosperity. To the top of the mountain are thousands of mounds (tsuka) for private worship.