lemonlinn's Blog

Fushimi Inari Shrine is the most famous of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari across Japan. Inari is the Shinto god of rice, and foxes are thought to be his messengers. Therefore, many fox statues can be found at Inari shrines.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is also famous for the countless torii gates, offerings by worshippers, that cover the hiking trails of Inarisan, the wooded mountain behind the shrine's main buildings. It takes about two hours to walk along the whole trail.

Kitsune Udon ("Fox Udon"), a noodle soup topped with pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), a favorite food of foxes, is served at small restaurants along the hiking trail.

Izumo Taisha is Japan's oldest shrine, constructed in a purely Japanese architecture style, called Taisha-tsukuri. The annual gathering place of Shinto's eight million kami ("Shinto gods"), Izumo Taisha is considered Japan's second most important shrine after Ise Jingu.

Izumo Taisha is dedicated to Okuninushi no Mikoto, the nephew of the Sun Goddess. Because Okuninushi is the kami of marriage, visitors clap their hands four times instead of just twice during their prayers, twice for oneself and twice for one's actual or desired partner.

The Ise Jingu consists of two shrines: the Outer Shrine (Geku), which is dedicated to Toyouke, the kami of clothing, food and housing, and the Inner Shrine (Naiku), which enshrines Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. They are Shinto's most sacred shrines.

Naiku and Geku are located several kilometers apart from each other at the foot of densely wooded hills. Unlike most other Shinto shrines, the Ise Shrines are built in a purely Japanese architecture style which shows no influence from the Asian mainland. Naiku is believed to have been established in the 3rd century and Geku in the 5th century.

The shrines fascinate through their extreme simplicity. There is nothing but green trees, broad gravel lanes and the wooden, barely painted shrine structures.

Isuzu River in the Inner Shrine

Uji Bridge, entrance to the Inner Shrine

The Naiku and Geku are both rebuilt every 20 years according to an ancient Shinto tradition. For that matter, an empty lot is located besides every shrine building as the site for its next rebuilding. Ise Shrine's 62nd rebuilding will take place in 2013.

Because the Ise Shrines are so sacred, no pictures may be taken near their main halls, a task that would be difficult anyway, as the view of the innermost buildings is partially obstructed by a set of wooden fences.

There are tens of thousands of shrines across Japan, some of which can be categorized into a few major groups of shrines. Some of these groups are:

• Imperial Shrines
  and Kyoto's These are the shrines which were directly funded and administered by the government during the era of State Shinto. They include many of Shinto's most important shrines such as the Ise Shrines, Izumo Shrine and Atsuta Shrine, and a number of shrines newly built during the Meiji Period, such as Tokyo's Meiji ShrineHeian Shrine. Imperial shrines can be recognized by the imperial family's chrysanthemum crest and by the fact that they are often called "jingu" rather than "jinja".
• Inari Shrines
  Inari Shrines are dedicated to Inari, the kami of rice. They can be recognized by fox statues, as the fox is considered the messenger of Inari. There are several ten thousand Inari Shrines across Japan, among which Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine is most famous.
• Hachiman Shrines
  Hachiman Shrines are dedicated to Hachiman, the kami of war, which used to be particularly popular among the leading military clans of the past. Of Japan's thousands of Hachiman Shrines, the most famous is probably Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangu.
• Tenjin Shrines
  Tenjin Shrines are dedicated to the kami of Sugawara Michizane, a Heian Period scholar and politician. They are particularly popular among students preparing for entrance exams. Tenjin Shrines can be recognized by ox statues and plum trees, Michizane's favorite trees. The first and most famous Tenjin Shrine is Dazaifu Tenmangu near Fukuoka.
• Sengen Shrines
  Sengen Shrines are dedicated to Princess Konohanasakuya, the Shinto deity of Mount Fuji. More than one thousand Sengen Shrines exist across Japan, with the head shrines standing at the foot and the summit of Mount Fuji itself.
• Shrines dedicated to the founders of powerful clans
  Some powerful clans in Japanese history established and dedicated shrines to the their clans' founders. The most famous example are the several dozens of Toshogu Shrines dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, including the famous Toshogu Shrine at Nikko. Another example is Kanazawa's Oyama Shrine which is dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, the founder of the powerful, local Maeda clan.
• Local Shrines
  Many shrines are dedicated to local kami without association to other shrines.