Inari (mythology) facts for kids
Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神, also Oinari) is the Japanese kami of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto.
In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Represented as male, female, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 AD, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century.
Worship of Inari spread across Japan in the Edo period, and by the 16th century Inari had become the patron of blacksmiths and the protector of warriors. Inari is a popular figure in both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs in Japan. More than one-third (32,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari. Modern corporations, such as cosmetic company Shiseido, continue to revere Inari as a patron kami, with shrines atop their corporate headquarters.
Inari's foxes, or kitsune, are pure white and act as their messengers.
Images for kids
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The Hokkaido red fox
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Searching the Seas with the Tenkei (天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図, Tenkei o motte sōkai o saguru no zu). Painting by Kobayashi Eitaku, 1880–90 (MFA, Boston). Izanagi to the right, Izanami to the left.
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Statue of a kitsune adorned with a red votive bib in a shrine at Inuyama Castle. Many castles in Japan contain Inari shrines.
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Red torii along a path at the Fushimi Inari shrine in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.
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Torii of ojiyama-inari
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Kakigara-Inari at Hase-dera (Kamakura)
See also
In Spanish: Inari (Japón) para niños
