稲荷神Inari Ōkami

Inari Ōkami (Japanese: 稲荷大神), also called Ō-Inari (大稲荷), is the Japanese kami of foxes, fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and industry, and general prosperity and worldly success, and is one of the principal kami of Shinto. The name Inari can be literally translated into "rice-bearer". In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. With common depictions as both male and female, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 CE, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century.

By the 16th century, Inari had become the patron of blacksmiths and the protector of warriors, and worship of Inari spread across Japan in the Edo period. Inari is a popular figure in both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs in Japan. More than one-third (40,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari.

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