Kasama Inari Shrine ( ) is one of the three largest

Inari Okami Inari may refer to: Shinto * Inari Ōkami, a Shinto spirit ** Mount Inari in Japan, site of Fushimi Inari-taisha, the main Shinto shrine to Inari ** Inari Shrine, shrines to the Shinto god Inari * Inari-zushi, a type of sushi Places * Inari, ...

shrines in Japan, having been awarded the ancient court rank of Senior First Grade. According to legends associated with the shrine, it was founded in 651 during the reign of

Emperor Kotoku An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

, indicating a history extending over some thirteen centuries. During the Tokugawa or

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, Kasama Inari Shrine received the devoted patronage of the feudal lord of the Kasama Domain, and spread its influence not only through the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

but throughout all of Japan. At present, the shrine is visited by more than 3.5 million pilgrims each year. The shrine is dedicated to

Ukanomitama Ukanomitama (宇迦之御魂神 – Mighty Soul of Sustenance - ''Kojiki'') (倉稲魂命 - '' Nihongi'') is a ''kami'' in classical Japanese mythology, associated with food and agriculture, often identified with Inari, the deity of rice. Name a ...

no kami – a spirit with jurisdiction over the five grains and foodstuffs, the life-root kami having mastery over the sources of life itself. According to the oldest collection of Japanese mythology, the ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' ("Records of Ancient Matters"), ''Ukanomitama no kami'' was the child of ''Susano no okami'' and ''Kamuoichihime no kami''. The "Uka" in the name means foodstuffs, indicating the "mysterious spirit dwelling in the grain".

References

External links

Jinja Honcho – English
– The Official Japanese Organization of 80,000 Shinto Shrines ---- {{Authority control Shinto shrines in Ibaraki Prefecture Inari shrines Religious buildings and structures completed in 1860 Kasama, Ibaraki Beppyo shrines