Thursday, February 17, 2011
Kitsune of Saijo Inari
Kitsune, foxes, are the messengers of the kami Inari, so statues of them can be found at all Inari shrines and temples. Like Komainu, there are a variety of different designs and styles.
All of these photos are from Saijo Inari in Okayama.
Most kitsune statues are carved in stone, but here there were many large ones of clay. I believe they are known as Bizen style.
There were a pair of strange looking ones made of concrete!!
Often the kitsune will have a scroll in its mouth. The scroll contains wisdom.
Occasionally there will also be komainu as well as kitsune.
Small ceramic kitsune are left as offerings, along with sake (omiki)
Labels:
inari,
kibi bike path,
kitsune,
okayama,
saijo inari,
Shrine,
temple
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment