Foxy Sasuke Inari Shrine in Kamakura

Kamakura has lots of points of interest such sa Tsuruoka Hachiman-gu but here, I focus on "Sasuke Inari Jinja (佐助稲荷神社)" or Sasuke Inari Shrine.

Sasuke Shrine is located kind of near "Zeniarai Benten," although you need to walk through "Keshouzaka Kiritoshi" from Zeniarai Benten, which is, by the way, also an interesting place.

What makes Sasuke Inari interesting is its foxes. "Inari" is one type of the gods in Japan. As fox is the Inari god's messenger, a pair of foxes or two always sits in the premises of the Inari shrine. At Sasuke Inari, you see not just a pair, but you'll soon notice many sitting here and there in the shrine!

This pair is located just below the right-side fox of the main stone pair. White ceramic foxes are those offered by people to make their wishes come true.

Sasuke Inari is supposed to have a supernatural power to bring romance between two people. If you want to marry with someone in your mind, you may come here, purchase a white ceramic fox and offer it to the Inari, asking for the god's help. It's like donation because the shrine uses money acquired to maintain their premises.

You'll notice a bib around a fox neck. Why is it? One theory is that parents who lost their babies tied a red bib around the fox to appease the baby's soul and allow them peacefully to become a budda in heaven.

There's another thing about Sasuke Inari Jinja. Though you tend to see Inari jinja less in your neighborhood nowadays, you have chances to see several while growing up in Japan. Most fox statues in Inari, however, don't have facial expressions as severe as Sasuke Inari's. See above pics. The foxes have unfriendly and beastly look and even have fangs protruding from their half-opened mouth. Those I've seen since my childhood have more comical or expression-less look. I wonder that people in the 13th century (that's when Sasuke Inari was constructed) regarded foxes as dangerous animals inconveniently living in their proximity but at the same time believed in their supernatural power and awed them.

You take "Shonan Shinjuku Liner"to visit Kamakura. It's about one hour ride from Ikebukuro.