11 - Great Deity Inari

【稲荷大明神、inari-daimyoujin】

[Daimyoujin is an honorific used for deities of great spiritual power. The kanji used in Inari's name are "rice plant" and "responsibility".]

Great Deity Inari, also called "Oinari-san" [I didn't translate the honorific this time because of the "o" before the name. This "o" shows respect towards the following noun, so it can also be used on objects. Example: Osushi], is one of Japan's most familiar and popular deities. Although today Inari is considered to be the god of Inari foxes, the name is thought to have originated from the word "inari", meaning "rice growing", having been an agricultural deity who was prayed to for a bountiful harvest of rice.

In the old days, when the rice harvest came, foxes living in the mountains descended to human villages to feed their young and scavenge for food. In other words, foxes were thought to be beasts that came down from the mountains as messengers of the mountain gods to announce the coming of the rice harvest.

Inari is also called "Osaki," which is believed to come from the word "osaki" [The "o" here is the same as the one pointed out before], which means "ahead", as the foxes would appear ahead of the harvest to announce it as messengers of the god.

It is said that the Great Deity Inari originated from Inari Shrine, as the patron deity of the Hata clan in Fushimi, Kyoto, but gradually became more widely spread among the people as it became associated with Shingon esoteric Buddhism.

In the Edo period (1603-1867), Inari became the object of worship for city dwellers and a fashionable deity, as it was believed that Inari could ward off misfortune and bring good fortune. As a popular Edo comical haiku goes, "In the town, there are churls, Inari, and dog dung" [I'm sorry, but there's no way I can make this fit the format of a haiku]. In other words, within a city, there were as many shrines to Inari as there were crude people or dog feces.

Some of the most prominent features of Inari shrines are the statues of foxes and the red torii gate. The fox statues are said to have their origin in the many offerings of fox statues to the shrine as prayers and gratitude.

The red torii [Lit. "where birds are/sit"] gate, the other symbol, is said to have originated from the word "tooriiru" which means "to pass through", as in "may my prayers pass through (to the gods)", having its origin be a play on words.