Overview of Yutoku Inari Shrine
Yutoku Inari Shrine is a special shrine located in Kashima City, Saga Prefecture.
This shrine is known as one of the representative shrines of western Japan, and is counted as one of Japan’s three major Inari shrines, along with Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kasama Inari Shrine.
More than 3 million people visit the shrine each year, and it is worshiped as a guardian deity of food, clothing, shelter, and life in general, praying for prosperous business and family fortune.
History and history of Yutoku Inari Shrine
The history of Yutoku Inari Shrine dates back to the time of Nabeshima Naotomo, the first lord of the Kashima domain.
It began when Mankohime, the daughter of his successor, Sadayoshi Kazanin, solicited a branch spirit of Inari Okami from Fushimi Inari, which was the imperial court’s imperial shrine.
It is said that on this occasion, her father gave her the divine mirror of Inari Okami. Later, in 1687, a shrine building was built on Mt. Ishikabe, and Manshihime herself served there.
However, in the second year of the Hoei era (1705), he was admitted to Juzo in the stone wall cave, and since then it has been called “Yutokuin” after the nickname of Manshihime, and has attracted many people of worship together with the enshrined deity, Inari. I did.
With the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the Meiji period, the shrine was renamed Yutoku Inari Shrine, and Manshihime was enshrined within the precincts as a stone wall shrine.
The current main shrine was rebuilt in 1957, and is a beautiful lacquered building that decorates Yutoku Inari Shrine.
In addition, poets Mokichi Saito and Ujo Noguchi dedicated poems to Yutoku Inari Shrine, and its cultural value is highly evaluated.
“Red torii gates” line the approach to Okunoin
Many red torii gates line the approach from the main shrine to the inner shrine.
It is said that the red torii gates were dedicated to the gods by those who came to pray, and there are over 200 of them leading up to Okunoin.
This is also a photo spot at Yutoku Inari Shrine.
Comments