Origins and early history The origin of Inari worship is not entirely clear. The first recorded use of the present-day
kanji (
characters) of Inari's name, which mean "carrying rice" (literally "rice load"), was in the
Ruijū Kokushi in 892 AD. Other sets of
kanji with the same phonetic readings, most of which contained a reference to rice, were in use earlier, and most scholars agree that the name
Inari is derived from . The worship of Inari is known to have existed as of 711 AD, the official founding date of the shrine at Inari Mountain in
Fushimi, Kyoto. The first reported occurrence of Inari is also recorded 711 in the story that a rich man used rice cakes as targets for practice and made the kami of rice resentful. The kami flew towards the mountains in the shape of a white bird and perched on a cedar. The man realised he had abused a divine gift and in order to pacify the kami he built a shrine where the bird had landed. Scholars such as Kazuo Higo believe worship was conducted for centuries before that date; they suggest that the immigrant
Hata clan began the formal worship of Inari as an agriculture
kami in the late fifth century. The descendants of the Hata-clan were conducting Inari-worship to protect their crops and let their commerce and trade flourish, showing that even at the early stages of Inari-worship the
kami was already associated with rice and commerce. The name Inari does not appear in classical
Japanese mythology. Other possible origins could come from the
Ainu who have ceremony for the harvest of crops. In this ceremony the older men receive cereal cakes and offer their prayers. This is reminiscent of the idea of kami being food and would explain the close relationship inari has with food, especially rice. Other practices in witchcraft and divination of the Ainu include the use of a fox skull, showcasing other similarities to Inari. The shrine founded by these immigrants bear similarities to
Fox Worship in ancient Korea, while also retaining features of worship that may reflect indigenous Japanese practices or beliefs shared in ancient Northeast Asia.
Heian period By the
Heian period, Inari worship began to spread. In 823 AD, after
Emperor Saga presented the
Tō-ji temple to
Kūkai, the founder of the
Shingon Buddhist sect, the latter designated Inari as its resident protector
kami. The second Inari shrine, Takekoma Inari, was established in the late ninth century. Inari's popularity continued to grow. The Fushimi shrine, already a popular pilgrimage site, gained wide renown when it became an imperial pilgrimage site in 1072. By 1338, the shrine's festival was said to rival the
Gion Festival in splendor.
Medieval period (1185–1600) In 1468, during the
Ōnin War, the entire Fushimi shrine complex was burned. Rebuilding took about thirty years; the new building was consecrated in 1499. While the old complex had enshrined three
kami in separate buildings, the new one enshrined five
kami in a single building. The new shrine also included a Buddhist temple building for the first time, and the hereditary priesthood was expanded to include the
Kada clan.
Edo Period '' adorned with a red votive bib in a shrine at
Inuyama Castle. Many castles in Japan contain Inari shrines. During the
Edo period, Inari worship spread across Japan; it became especially prominent in
Edo. Smyers attributes this spread to the movement of
daimyō (feudal lords). Inari had by the sixteenth century become the patron of blacksmiths and the protector of warriors—for this reason, many castle compounds in Japan contain Inari shrines—and the
daimyō took their belief in their protector
kami with them when they relocated to a new domain. Inari also began to be petitioned for good health; they are credited with curing such diverse afflictions as coughs, toothaches, broken bones, and syphilis. Women prayed to Inari to grant them children. After a government decree mandated the separation of Buddhist and Shinto beliefs, many Inari shrines underwent changes. At Fushimi Inari, for instance, structures that were obviously Buddhist were torn down. Among the populace, however, the blended form of worship continued. Some Buddhist temples, such as
Toyokawa Inari, maintained Inari worship by arguing that they had always been devoted to a Buddhist deity (often Dakiniten), which the common folk had mistaken as Inari. In the
Tokugawa period, when money replaced rice as the measure of wealth in Japan, Inari's role as a
kami of worldly prosperity was expanded to include all aspects of finance, business, and industry. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, followers of Inari at the
Ginza mint struck coins meant for offerings to Inari, which featured pictures of two foxes and a jewel or the characters for 'long life' and 'good luck'. ==Shrines and offerings==