Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

It is located in Fukakusa Yabunouchi-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto City. It is located at the southernmost tip of Kyoto Higashiyama, at the western foot of Mt. Inari. The deities enshrined are Uka no Mitama no Okami (Lower shrine), Satahiko no Okami (Middle shrine), and Omiya no Me no Okami (Upper shrine), in addition to Tanaka no Okami and Shi no Okami, who were enshrined in the main hall in 1499 (Meiō 8), and are called the Inari Gosha Daimyojin. It is the main shrine of the Inari Shrines, which number more than 30,000 throughout the country. The "Three Inari Shrines in Kii County, Yamashiro Province" in the "Engishiki" Shinmeicho refers to the first three gods, and are listed as Myojin Taisha. According to the legend of the founding of the shrine, recorded in a fragment of the "Yamashiro Province Topography," the ancestor of Hatano Nakakatsue no Imiki and others, Irokohatanokimi, was so wealthy that he shot an arrow at a rice cake as a target, which turned into a swan and flew away, causing his family fortunes to decline. The shrine was founded when the god was enshrined at the place where the swan landed, and the day of Hatsuuma in February 711 (Wado 4) is said to have been the day of enshrinement. Three shrines, upper, middle and lower, were enshrined on the three peaks of Mt. Inari, but in 1438 (Eikyo 10), at the request of the sixth Ashikaga Shogun Yoshinori, they were moved to the current site at the foot of the mountain, and the old shrine site has become a sacred site for pilgrimages to Mt. Inari. As the name Kii District suggests, this area was originally the territory of the Kii Atai clan, and the shrine was presided over by an old clan whose distant ancestor was Mikemochi no Mikoto, but it can be said that the faith was inherited and worshiped by the Hata clan. Inari means rice-growing, and was originally a god of agriculture, but when Kukai built Toji Temple in the Heian period, it was made the guardian deity of the temple and was widely revered by the court and common people, and its deity expanded to include a god of industrialization, commerce, and the god of homes. Formerly a government-sponsored grand shrine.

Since the imperial decree at the time of the shrine's founding, all of the rituals have been performed in accordance with Kamo Shrine, and the Aoi Katsura-kake ritual held in April still retains this tradition, but the main festival on the first day of the horse month in February has long been considered a very auspicious day and is filled with pilgrims from all over the country, as can be seen in the poem by Tachibana Akemi, a poet from the late Edo period, "The great vermilion torii gate that spans Inari Hill is shaken, and people come up." In addition to the Hata clan, there are two other families of priests, the Kada clan and the Hakura clan, who have long been shrine families, and each has the hereditary position of Goten Azukari and Mokudai, and the Higashi Hakura clan produced the Japanese scholar Kada Azumaro. The annual festival is held on April 9th. The shrine treasures include the Inari Shrine, which was awarded the Imperial Plaque of Emperor Saga. The Inari-style main hall and the teahouse bestowed by Emperor Go-Mizunoo are both important cultural properties of Japan. In addition, the former residence of Kada Harumitsu is preserved as a national historic site.

[Toshihiko Uda]

"Uta Toshihiko, Japanese Shinto: The Original Form of the Inari Legend (1971, Igakudo)" ▽ "Kojima Shosaku, ed., Inari Taisha History Collection, 6 volumes (1953-57, Inari Taisha Office)" ▽ "Naoe Koji, ed., Inari Belief (Popular Religious History Series, Volume 3, 1984, Yuzankaku Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

京都市伏見区深草藪之内(やぶのうち)町に鎮座。京都東山の最南端、稲荷山の西麓(せいろく)に位置する。祭神は宇迦之御魂大神(うかのみたまのおおかみ)（下社）、佐田彦大神(さたひこのおおかみ)（中社）、大宮能売大神(おおみやのめのおおかみ)（上社）の3神に、1499年（明応8）に本殿に合祀(ごうし)された田中大神(たなかのおおかみ)、四大神(しのおおかみ)を加えて稲荷五社大明神(だいみょうじん)と称し、全国に3万余を数える稲荷神社の本祠(ほんし)である。『延喜式(えんぎしき)』神名帳に「山城(やましろ)国紀伊(きい)郡稲荷神三社」とあるのは初めの3神をさし、名神(みょうじん)大社に列せられている。『山城国風土記(ふどき)』逸文に記された創祀伝承によれば、秦中家忌寸(はたのなかつえのいみき)らの遠祖、伊侶巨秦公(いろこはたのきみ)が富裕をおごり、餅(もち)を的にして矢を射たところ白鳥と化して飛び去り家運衰えたため、白鳥の降り立った地に神を祀(まつ)ったのを創祀とし、711年（和銅4）2月初午(はつうま)の日を鎮座の日とする。稲荷山の三つの峰に上中下3社を祀ったが、1438年（永享10）足利(あしかが)6代将軍義教(よしのり)の立願により現在の山麓に移され、旧社地は稲荷山巡拝の神跡となっている。この地は紀伊郡の地名のとおりもと紀伊直(あたい)の領地であり、御食持命(みけもちのみこと)を遠祖とする旧族の司祭した古社であったが、秦氏によってその信仰が継承され祭祀されていったといえよう。稲荷は稲生(いねなり)の意で、もとは農耕神であったが、平安時代に空海が東寺を造営したおり、その鎮守神とされてからは広く朝野の尊崇を集め、殖産興業神、商業神、屋敷(やしき)神へと拡大していった。旧官幣大社。

　神事は創祀のときの詔命以来すべて賀茂(かも)社に準拠して行われ、4月祭礼の葵桂(あおいかつら)かけの神事にその遺風をとどめているが、なかでも2月初午の日の大祭は昔から大吉祥(だいきっしょう)日として全国からの参詣(さんけい)人で埋め尽くされ、幕末の歌人橘曙覧(たちばなあけみ)の「稲荷坂見あぐる朱の大鳥居ゆり動かして人のぼり来る」の歌にもそのようすがうかがえる。神主家は秦氏のほか、古くからの社家に荷田(かだ)姓羽倉(はくら)氏の2家があり、それぞれ御殿預(ごてんあずかり)と目代(もくだい)とを世襲職としたが、その東羽倉家からは国学者荷田春満(あずままろ)が出ている。例祭4月9日。社宝には嵯峨(さが)天皇の勅額「稲荷宮」がある。稲荷造の本殿と後水尾院(ごみずのおいん)下賜のお茶屋は国の重要文化財。また荷田春満旧宅が国の史跡として保存されている。

［菟田俊彦］

『菟田俊彦著『日本人の神道　稲荷伝説の原形』（1971・以学堂）』▽『小島鉦作編『稲荷大社由緒記集成』全6巻（1953～57・稲荷大社社務所）』▽『直江廣治編「稲荷信仰」（『民衆宗教史叢書　第3巻』1984・雄山閣出版）』

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