Yūtoku Inari Shrine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yutoku Inari Shrine in the spring of 2010
Yutoku Inari Shrine in the winter of 2009

Yūtoku Inari Shrine (祐徳稲荷神社) is a shrine located in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture. It is one of the most famous Inari shrines in Japan.

History

Dedicated to Inari, the wily fox kami, 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. It was built to the Inari kami of the harvest by a princess from Kyoto named Manko Hime (萬子媛) who married Nabeshima Naotomo. The Nabeshima clan was entrusted with protecting Edo’s interests in Kyūshū, in particular the city of Nagasaki, which was one of the few ports open to foreign contact during Japan’s period of isolation.

The shrine is also popular for new year celebrations and is very crowded during the first two weeks of January.

Other Inari shrines

The most important Shintoist Inari Shrine is Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine (Grand Fushimi Inari Shrine) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City.

References


    Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yutoku Inari-jinja.
     
    Buildings
    Architectonic elements
    Styles
     
    Others
    Implements
    Main kami
    Staff
    Head shrines1
    Miscellaneous

    1 (in order of the size of the shrine network they head)

    Coordinates: 33°04′25″N 130°06′30″E / 33.07361°N 130.10833°E / 33.07361; 130.10833

    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.