Yūtoku Inari Shrine

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

[edit] History

It is dedicated to Inari, the wily fox kami, and 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 goddess 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.^[1]

Princess Manko was a follower of Shinto, so her new husband sanctioned the construction of the shrine to Yūtoku. The princess brought with her a doctor from Kyoto by the name of Oda. The Oda family has lived in Kashima ever since and the descendants of that doctor still run the hospital in Kashima that bears the family name.^[2]

Set up on a hillside and supported by exposed red stilts, the shrine is reminiscent of Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Temple. The main building and its tower gate, which are painted vermillion, present a magnificent view amidst the greenery. On December 8th, the Yutoku Inari Shrine Fire Festival, Ohitaki, takes place. People bring charms and prayers that they have collected from their visits to shrines throughout the year and throw them into the fire. Later they collect some of the ashes to place in their home for good luck.^[3]

The shrine is also popular for new year celebrations and is very crowded for the first two weeks around January.^[4]