Oinari-Kami

the gods in new colors: inari okami + navy blue

moodboards: deities of Japanese myth (9/?)

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社)

A man walks under the torii path. This portion was on the higher part of Mount Inari and very few people make it to this point.

保谷稲荷神社（2017/09/14）Houya-Inari-Shrine

神奈川県川崎市多摩区堰３丁目 　 Seki 3chome, Kawasaki Tama-ku, Kanagawa, Japan

 祭神は 正一位稲荷大明神 。

The two guards of Yutoku Inari Shrine in Saga Prefecture

“Kitsunebi” (fox fires), by Miki Katoh. This painting show a Fox changing clothes in Oji Inari shrine on New Year’s Eve.

Subject reminds me of this famous ukiyo-e by Hiroshige entitled “New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji”:

Foxes gather at the large, old enoki (hackberry) tree on New Year’s Eve to prepare to pay homage at the Ōji Inari shrine, the headquarters of the Inari cult in eastern Japan. The cult centers on the god of the rice field, for whom the fox serves as messenger. On the way to Ōji, the foxes have set a number of fox fires, which farmers count to predict the upcoming rice harvest.

Japanese folk tales #15: The White Fox (find my tales tagged here or visit my blog for both english and french versions)

Once upon a time, in a faraway province of Japan, was a famous archer named Yazaemon.

The man was quiet and swift and his talent so great that the Lord of the land had appointed him Master of the Hunt.

One autumn day, as Yazaemon rode with the Lord along golden rice paddies, a white fox jumped out the bushes.