On the 19th
of August I visited Fushimi Inari-taisha 伏見稲荷大社, probably the
largest and most famous sanctuary dedicated to Inari, the god(ess?) of
fertility, rice and commerce. Apart from being a major visiting spot
for tourists and joggers (that don’t mind steep hills and stairs), it is also
an important place of worship. The higher one climbs the mountain, the more
serene the atmosphere gets and the more apparent the traces of folk worship
become.
Around the
large shrine near the entrance of the sacred grounds one can find a lot of
souvenir shops etc.
A man praying.
Two kannushi 神主 (priests) cleanisng themselves by a temizuya 手水舎.
The kannushi
wear their traditional uniform in spite of the unbearable summer heat in Kyōto.
Visitors write
wishes on small torii 鳥居 and offer them to Inari. On the left, one can see dozens of
small origami cranes bunched together. I failed to count all of them, but it is
likely that there is a thousand of them, in which case it is called sen-ba
zuru 千羽鶴. Folk belief has it that anyone
who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish and therefore these bunches
of origami cranes can often be found as offering in Shinto shrines and Buddhist
temples.
Bajin 馬神, the “horse god”
A price list
for different sizes of torii. One has
to pay ¥1.302.000 if one wants to
purchase the largest size.
A list
to find out when your yakudoshi 厄年 or unlucky years will be throughout your life. During their
unlucky year, some people visit a shrine to undergo a ritual cleansing to
protect themselves from misfortune.
This
shrine did not have foxes or komainu 狛犬 as guardians, but two dragons.
Omo-karu ishi 重軽石: After having bowed to the stone, visitors make a wish and
try to pick it up. If the stone feels heavy, nothing happens, but if the stone
feels light, your wish will be granted.
Amidst
numerous torii and fox statues: a
Buddhist statue of Fudō-myōō 不動明王
A small go-hei 御幣 (staff with paper or cloth which is believed to
house/represent a deity)
One of
the most impressive altars I found on the grounds of the Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine.
The light provided by large candles almost makes the six fox statues look as
though they were alive. On top stands a rock with an inscription that reads
Inari-daijin 稲荷大神 (“the great deity Inari) and a shinkyō 神鏡 (sacred mirror).
At a
rest stop we enjoyed some inari zushi
稲荷寿司and inari udon 稲荷うどん.
Both
dishes contain fried tofu, which is often associated with Inari. On different
occasions I have encountered small bags of fried tofu from the supermarket that were
put in front of an Inari shrine as an offering.
This
time no foxes, komainu or dragons
guarding the shrine, but two horses.
Most
of the torii have the characters 奉納 (hōnō, “offering”) on them.
Note: read from right to left.
