Kusado Inari Shrine

 

Day 10 of my walk along the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage begins just south of  downtown Fukuyama on the bank of the Ashida River.

Kusado Inari Shrine was originally located on an island in the river that has long since disappeared due to river straightening and land reclamation.

Kusado Sengen was a fairly major port about 1,000 years ago but has long since disappeared, however the history museum in the castle grounds has an excellent set of displays about what was there...

Kusado Sengen was important and wealthy enough to maintain a major temple complex, now named Myoo-in, adjacent to the shrine.

The shrine was said to have been established by a sword-maker who lived in Kusado Sengen after he donated a sword to the temple.

The shrine was swept away by flood numerous times and was moved to its current location in 1655 after having been rebuilt by the founder of Fukuyama Castle, Mizuno Katsunari, at the original site.

It is claimed that the shrine receives the second-largest number of visitors at New Year of all shrines in Hiroshima Prefecture.

With the elevated main hall it reminded me of Yutoku Inari down on Kysuhu... though on a somewhat smaller scale. Perhaps that was the inspiration.

Between the business hours of 9 to 4 the gates to the stairs leading up to the elevated main hall are opened. There are great views.

At other hours the shrine is open and the lower main hall can be used.

The construction of the concrete framework and upper hall was not until the 1980's.

There are many different Inari shrines within the grounds.

The main kami enshrined here is Ukanomitama, the standard Inari kami, but also enshrined is Ukemochi, otherwise known as Ogetsuhime, another food deity that also sometimes appears as a fox, and the third kami is Onamuchi, otherwise known as Okuninushi.

The shrine is popular all year round, and has a full schedule of festivals...

On top of the mountain is an Atago Shrine, the protective shrine for Myoo-in Temple. With the separation of Buddhas and Kami the shrine came under the control of Kusado Inari.

The largest of the secondary shrines in the grounds is the Hachiman Shrine photo below.

The previous post in this series was on the Niagari Odori Festival the evening before.