Thus, Inari is still closely associated with Shingon Buddhism to this day. Inari's association with Buddhism may have begun in the 8th century, when Shingon Buddhist monk and founder, Kūkai, took over administration of the temple of Tōji, and chose Inari as a protector of the temple. Dakiniten is portrayed as a female or androgynous bodhisattva riding a flying white fox. Inari's female aspect is often identified or conflated with Dakiniten, a Buddhist deity who is a Japanese transformation of the Indian dakini, or with Benzaiten of the Seven Lucky Gods. Some take Inari to be identical to any grain kami. Some scholars suggest that Inari is the figure known in classical Japanese mythology as the Shinto female deity Uka-no-Mitama (or possibly Uke Mochi) others suggest Inari is the same figure as the Shinto female deity, Toyouke. Inari is sometimes identified with other mythological figures. Inari also appears in the form of a snake or dragon, and one folktale has Inari appear to a wicked man in the shape of a monstrous spider as a way of teaching him a lesson. Because of her close association with kitsune, Inari is often believed to be a fox though this belief is widespread, both Shinto and Buddhist priests discourage it. Some didn't know whether to refer to Inari as male or female, so they left it up to each person. The separation of Buddhism and Shinto occurred. At the time, many female high-power deities were changed to male, Inari included. Historically, Inari started off as a female until the rise of Buddhist controlled government in Japan. The most popular representations of Inari, according to scholar Karen Ann Smyers, are a young female food goddess, an old man carrying grains of rice. Inari has been depicted both as female and as male. This portrayal of Inari shows the influence of Dakiniten concepts from Buddhism. According to legend, in the ancient times Japan was water and swamp land." Depiction Inari appears to a warrior. What she carried was not rice but some cereal that grows in swamps. Ine, the word now used for rice, is the name for this cereal. "She descended from Heaven riding on a white fox, and in her hand she carried sheaves of cereal or grain. Inari's foxes, or kitsune, are pure white and act as their messengers.Īccording to myth, Inari, as a goddess, was said to have come to Japan at the time of its creation amidst a harsh famine that struck the land. Modern corporations, such as cosmetic company Shiseido, continue to revere Inari as a patron kami, with shrines atop their corporate headquarters. More than one-third (32,000) of the Shinto shrines in Japan are dedicated to Inari. Inari is a popular figure in both Shinto and Buddhist beliefs in Japan. Inari appears to have been worshipped since the founding of a shrine at Inari Mountain in 711 AD, although some scholars believe that worship started in the late 5th century.īy 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. Represented as male, or female, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Inari Ōkami ( Japanese: 稲荷大神), also called Ō-Inari ( 大稲荷), is the Japanese kami of foxes, fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. This legend is the subject of the noh drama Sanjo Kokaji. Inari and their fox spirits help the blacksmith Munechika forge the blade kogitsune-maru ( Little Fox) in the late 10th century.
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