Wednesday, October 22, 2025

482 ~ Suehiro-no-Taki Cluster

 

Japanese Name: 末廣大神
Romanized Reading: Suehiro Ookami
English Translation: Tip Wide Great Deity
Cluster Size: Medium
Deity: ?
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: 49 Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamachō, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9660,135.7878

Despite the fact that I must have passed this cluster already on my way up to Ooiwa Ookami, I apparently only really noticed it on my way back down. Or maybe, I chose to ignore it on the first pass on account of my camera just having died. Anyway, this is another of those cascade clusters, named 末広の滝 (Suehiro-no-Taki = "Tip Wide Cascade"). There's also one more further up the valley called 岩龍ノ瀧 (Iwaryuu-no-Taki = "Boulder Dragon Cascade"), but I haven't been to that one.
 

 

Monday, October 20, 2025

481 ~ Ooiwa Ookami Cluster

 

Japanese Name: 大岩大神
Romanized Reading: Ooiwa Ookami
English Translation: Great Boulder Great Deity
Cluster Size: Small
Deity: ?
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: Japan, 〒612-0813 Kyoto, Fushimi Ward, Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho
Coordinates
: 34.9661,135.7887

The easternmost fox shrine cluster of Fushimi Inari that I visited. Past here, the pat was closed on account of the aftermath of Typhoon Jebi, which struck here half a year ago. Apparently, this is one of the more remote paths that has not been repaired yet.

Anyway, this is a pretty small fox shrine cluster with not all that many foxes around. By local standards, at least. It still has way more foxes than most other shrines.
 

Saturday, October 18, 2025

480 ~ Mitsurugi-no-Taki (Camera battery died)

 

Japanese Name: 御劔ノ瀧
Romanized Reading: Mitsurugi-no-Taki
English Translation: Honorable Sword Cascade
Size: Tiny
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: 44 Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9654,135.7877

The 118th vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the fourth one within the Mitsurugi-no-Taki cluster. As usual, it is watched over by a pair of life-sized stone foxes, with the left one holding a scroll, and the right one holding an orb.

I used to think there couldn't be such a thing as too much fox shrines. However, that is clearly not true for my camera's battery, which died only three hours into this fox shrine orgy.

So, what now? I'm barely half around the mountain, and there's surely still thousands of fox shrines to find. I still have my phone, but the battery life of that is also limited. And even if it wasn't, I'm reasonably sure that I don't have enough space for all the pictures I would take on there.

Thus, I shift approaches from here on out. Instead of taking pictures of individual shrines, I instead just take one or a few pictures for each cluster, in the understanding that each of them likely contains dozens of fox shrines.

So, from here on out, our pace is going to accelerate a bit (but we're still gonna stay in Kyoto for the rest of the year).

Thursday, October 16, 2025

479 ~ ?nan Daimyoujin


Japanese Name: ?男大明神
Romanized Reading: ?nan Daimyoujin
English Translation: ? Man Great Radiant Deity
Size: Tiny
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: 44 Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9654,135.7877

The 117th vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the third one within the Mitsurugi-no-Taki cluster. As usual, it is watched over by a pair of life-sized stone foxes, with the left one holding a scroll, and the right one holding an orb.

This one is located directly to the right of the previous one, and it looks very old, with moss covering it all over.

The puzzle of its name might be related to that. It's not that I can't make out the first character. It's that no such kanji exists (anymore). It's a 里 with a 亠 on top, kinda like in 裏, but without the lower part. As if it is the missing link between them. If it was 里男, then it would read "Satoo" and mean "Village Man". I consider that to be its most likely name, but I really can't be sure. Have a close-up look here if you like:


 

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

478 ~ Sanrin Ookami, Ebisu Ookami, Shironaga Ookami (and more)


Japanese Names: 三輪大神, 恵比須大神, 白長大神++
Romanized Readings: Sanrin Ookami, Ebisu Ookami, Shironaga Ookami++
English Translations: Three Rings Great Deity, Ebisu Great Deity, White Long Great Deity++
Size: Tiny
Deity: Ebisu
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: 44 Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9654,135.7877

The 116th vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the second one within the Mitsurugi-no-Taki cluster. As usual, it is watched over by a pair of life-sized stone foxes, with the left one holding a scroll, and the right one holding an orb.

This shrine is dedicated to Ebisu, god of fishing, and one of the Shijifukujin. 

It also has more names. I wasn't able to decipher them, but if you want to try, here you go! You can also click on the very top image to enlarge it, because some of the names are better legible on that one (still can't figure out what Kanji those are supposed to be though...)


 

 

Monday, October 13, 2025

477 ~ Mitsurugi Ookami, Mitsuyoshi Ookami, Fujiyoshi Ookami (Mitsurug-no-Taki Cluster Start)

 

Japanese Names: 御劔大神, 三芳大神, 藤芳大神
Romanized Readings: Mitsurugi Ookami, Mitsuyoshi Ookami, Fujiyoshi Ookami
English Translations: Honorable Sword Great Deity, Three Perfumes Great Deity, Wisteria Perfume Great Deity
Size: Tiny
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Mitsurugi-no-Taki
Address: 44 Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9654,135.7877

The 115th vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the first one within the Mitsurugi-no-Taki (御劔ノ瀧 "Honorable Sword Cascade") cluster. As usual, it is watched over by a pair of life-sized stone foxes, with the left one holding a scroll, and the right one holding an orb.

Saturday, October 11, 2025

476 ~ Kasha Ookami, Komeko Ookami, Kinkou Ookami

 

Japanese Names: 火車大神, 米子大神, 金光大神
Romanized Readings: Kasha Ookami, Komeko Ookami, Kinkou Ookami
English Translations: Fiery Chariot Great Deity, Rice Child Great Deity, Golden Light Great Deity
Size: Tiny Side shrine in the Happyakuman Ookami cluster
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 25-Dec-2018
Location: Kyoto-Fushimi, inside Happyakuman Ookami cluster
Address: Fukakusa Gokurakuji Yamacho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, 612-0813
Coordinates
: 34.9650,135.7875

The 114th vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the ninth and last one within the Happyakuman Ookami cluster. As usual, it is watched over by a pair of life-sized stone foxes. I assume that the left one is holding a scroll, and the right one an orb, but I only have the one picture of this shrine, and I can't see the foxes' heads on it, so I can't be sure.

 

482 ~ Suehiro-no-Taki Cluster

  Japanese Name : 末廣大神 Romanized Reading : Suehiro Ookami English Translation : Tip Wide Great Deity Cluster Size : Medium Deity : ? First V...