Foxes of Fushimi Inari Taisha 伏見稲荷大社
Many believe the Shinto kami Inari sends messages by fox. The foxes in these photos work at Fushimi Inari Taisha.
by Bob Kerstetter
Tradition says the Shinto kami Inari sends messages by fox—きつね or 狐 in Japanese—pronounced key-tsu-neh in English.
The foxes in these photos work at Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社)—the Inari Grand Shrine—in Kyoto, Japan.
Foxes—including those directly serving Inari—may help or hurt, provide benevolence or malevolence.
Coming and going with little notice, they receive both credit and blame for things they may or may not do.
While they can shift their shapes—they like masquerading as humans for mischief—they must always speak the truth.
Fushimi Inari serves as the main shrine for Inari, one of the seven gods of luck.
Inari Kami oversees agriculture, fertility, industry, commerce and—you guessed it—foxes.
Many people honor Inari at Fushimi Inari Taisha by funding torii—shrine gates—to span the walking paths within the sacred grounds.
One trail enveloped in vermilion torii reaches the summit of Inari-san, the shrine mountain.
