Some Unusual Ema

Unusual Ema in Japan

Ema, votive plaques, can be found at many shrines and temples and nowadays are usually a standard size and shape, though variations abound. The heart shape is becoming more common and its purpose is fairly obviously to petition for finding a lover. Ema are usually wooden, but these are made of ceramic. The other ceramic ema are in the shape of miniature kawara, rooftiles. Found at Zuiryujimirakumogosho, a small temple on top of Mount Hachiman in Shiga.

These unusual ema I found at the Inari shrine on the hill above Miyajidake Shrine in Fukuoka. The petitioner draws or paints a face onto the blank face of the fox.

These ema at Takeuchi Shrine in Higashi Izumo have a blank human body shape on which you mark which part of your body you have a problem with that you ask for healing.

These spoon shaped ema can be found at many places. They are rice scoops, in Japan sukuu, but the word pronounce the same but written with a different kanji  means "save", as in salvation. These are at Rakan-ji, a temple near Nakatsu in Oita.

At Nangu Taisha in Gifu there were the standard shaped ema as well as circular ones and some shaped like toy dogs.

Purchase a selection of ema from GoodsFromJapan

Sunlight & Shadow at Yusuhara Hachimangu

Yusuhara Hachimangu Shrine was the major shrine of what is bow called Oita City, and is located in the mountains to the west of the city proper.

I visited in a loveky sunny morning in February 4 years ago on my walk around Kyushu. The low winter sun made for some great photos so that is what I post now, and will post on the shrine itself later.

The first photo is one of the pair of wooden komainu in the gatehouse into the main shrine compound. The second photo is of the steps leading up to the honden, and this third id of one of the fox guardians at an Inari shrine in the grounds.

The main gate located lower down the hill is famous for its many relief carvings and that is also something I will post on later.......

Kyushu Pilgrimage Temple 19 Fumon-in

Fumon-in, number 19 of the 108 temples on the Kyushu Pilgrimage I was walking was very hard to find.

Just after sunrise I walked along the street of temples in Nakatsu where it was supposed to be but ended up walking past it several times as from its appearance behind a high wall it looked just like an old house.

At this hour there was no-one around, but the small urban yard was filled with statues. Always nice to find a Fudo.

There was also a small Inari Shrine.

Chikurinji Temple 31 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage

Located next to the Makino Botanical Gardens in the south of Kochi City, the 5 storey pagoda of Chikurinji was built in 1980 to replace a smaller three storey pagoda that was destroyed in a typhoon in 1899.

Its the onlly temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage that is dedicated to Monju Bosatsu, and legend has it that Gyogi carved the statue.

According to the legend Emperor Shomu instructed Gyoki to find a mountain that resembled a sacred mountain in China named Godaisan in Japanese which is why the hill where Chikurinji is located is called Godaisan.

Reputedly Kukai spent some time here. It is now a Shingon temple. The Temples museum contains many National Treasures.

I found the Nio statues quite atmospheric. The top photo is of miniature wooden Jizo, and the 4th photo is at the Inari Shrine in the grounds.

Wakamitsu Inari Shrine

Wakamitsu Inari Shrine is located right next to Nose Hachimangu in Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture.

This is one of the most unusual fox statues I've seen,



I couldn't find a date for its establishment, though it is known that the cult of Inari became very popular in the Edo Period. Depending on how you define "shrine" either Inari, or the neighboring Hachiman are considered to be the most common shrines in Japan.

Interestingly, neither Hachiman nor Inari are mentioned in the Kojiki or Nihonshoki, and both have origins connected to the continent and also to Buddhism, but are now firmly identified with "native shinto".

Inari Shrine at Tamatsukuriyu Shrine

The biggest shrine in Tamatsukuri is Tamatsukuriyu Shrine, and within its grounds is a small Inari Shrine.

Guarded by a pair of fox statues, the fox being the messengers of Inari.

It is fairly common to find beheaded statues with missing heads replaced by a  head-shaped rock. Ive seen that with jizo statues a lot but never before with a fox statue.

Behind the shrine shelves have been made is a small overhang in the rock and several lines of miniature fox statues have been left by worshipers/petitioners.

Obata Ebisu Shrine & Inari Shrine

Obata is a small fishing port just north of Hagi. Like virtually every fishing harbor in Japan there is a small shrine to Ebisu, the patron kami of fishermen.

However, running fromn the side of the shrine is a path running up the hillside lined with red torii, a sure sign of an Inari Shrine.

Halfway up the path was one, and then further up another. It is possible to find single Inari shrines, but more often their will be several. Inari, like Buddhas, are in a sense "universal" deities, but in Japan they are often localized with specific local identities.

The Inari ( or other kami or Buddha) will have different local manifestations, so you have, for instance, hundreds of different Inari shrines at the main Inari shrine near Kyoto, Fushimi Inari.

Kitsune of Shikoku 2

The second installment of photos of fox statues taken on the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
This first one is at the Yosakoi Inari Shrine in Kochi City.

Fox (kitsune) statues will be found at Inari shrines where they serve as guardians. Inari is therefore often erroneously called the Fox God. Actually I was surprised at how few Inari shrines I found on Shikoku compared to some other areas of Japan. This one was at a small shrine in Ehime, not far from temple 40.

This one is at a sub-shrine in the grounds of Taga Shrine, a fertility shrine, in Uwajima, Ehime.

Ryukoji, the 41st temple, was originally part of an Inari Shrine, but the two were separated in 1868.

Wearing a tail-warmer, Taisanji, temple 52 near Matsuyama.

Kitahachimangu Inari Shrine

Located right next to Kitahachimangu in Oda City is a small Inari shrine.

Its a small shrine with only about a dozen vermillion torii lining the approach.

Inari are very popular shrines, with many larger shrines having Inari shrines within them. The identity of Inari is also very complex having many historical strands, though nowadays the official identity is as Ukanomitama, an offspring of Susanoo according to the Kojiki

Kitsune of Shikoku

Statues of foxes, kitsune, are common throughout Japan, mostly as guardian messengers of the kami Inari, and as Inari shrines are the most common shrine in Japan (according to one counting method) it is not surprising that while walking the Shikoku Pilgrimage one encounters many fox statues. This first one, however, did not appear to be connected to any shrine and was just along the wayside not far from Aizen-in on the first days walk.

This small Inari hokora (wayside shrine) is just in front of the entrance to temple 10 Kirihata-ji

A peek inside another small hokora, this one at the entrance to temple 25, Shinso-ji

An Inari shrine within the grounds of temple 31, Chikurin-ji

These last two were at the Yosakoi Inari Shrine near the base of Kochi Castle.