551 ~ Osame Fudou (Tiniest Foxes)

 

Japanese Name: 納符堂
Romanized Reading: Osame Fudou
English Translation: Offerings Hall
Size: Small Side Shrine of Toyokawa Inari
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: Many
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 1 Toyokawacho, Toyokawa, Aichi 442-0033
Coordinates: 34.82588,137.39245

The fourth vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari. This one features many small-to-tiny foxes of varying designs, including the tiniest foxes I've ever seen. Sitting between three pairs of already tiny porcelain foxes, there's another pair that is even tinier, and then one more pair that I think might be made from metal, where each of the foxes is only around 2cm tall.

Also, the offering box has foxes painted on it, which is also not something you see very often.
 

550 ~ Toyokawa Inari Side Shrine

 

Japanese Name: ?
Romanized Reading: ?
English Translation: ?
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Toyokawa Inari
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 4
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 1 Toyokawacho, Toyokawa, Aichi 442-0033
Coordinates: 34.8259,137.3922

The third vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari. Contrasting with all the big and fancy fox shrines, temples and areas here in Toyokawa Inari, this shrine is truly tiny. Sitting atop a flat rock at the bottom of a pillar, it features a pair of tiny porcelain foxes to watch over it, and between them another pair of even tinier porcelain foxes. You'd think that these would be as small as they get, but as a matter of fact, I should yet encounter even smaller foxes than this. This one is definitely one of the tiniest fox shrines I've encountered, though.

549 ~ Okunoin (Trees on approach)

 

Japanese Name: 奥の院
Romanized Reading: Okunoin
English Translation: Inner Shrine
Size: Medium Side Shrine of Toyokawa Inari
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 10
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 1 Toyokawacho, Toyokawa, Aichi 442-0033
Coordinates: 34.82590,137.39228

The second vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari. The name marks this as the inner hall, so I am counting all the foxes on the path to here as part of this Temple. Which amounts to quite a few. Also, notice how there's a bunch of sacred trees standing right in front of the shrine on the main approach. That's what I call living in harmony with nature.

Here's the foxes on the approach to the Temple:

 

548 ~ Reikodsuka (Highest fox density)

 

Japanese Name: 霊狐塚
Romanized Reading: Reikodsuka
English Translation: Spirit Fox Den
Size: Medium Side Shrine of Toyokawa Inari
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: Uncountable
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 1 Toyokawacho, Toyokawa, Aichi 442-0033
Coordinates: 34.82666,137.39146

The first vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari. Located at the very back of the Toyokawa Inari grounds, there's the one place in Japan with the highest concentration of foxes, beating even anything I've seen at Fushimi Inari Taisha. There, there are countless shrines side by side, each of them featuring foxes. Here, they have just skipped the shrines and filled at least a hectare of ground completely with stone foxes of varying sizes. Here's a close-up of the crowded area.

But that's not all! There's pairs of life-sized stone foxes flanking the entire approach... 

And then, there are also a lot of stone foxes who have more space to themselves in front of the crowded area. And there's also stone carvings of more foxes on several pedestals!

All this adds up to "If you like visiting fox shrines, then you have GOT to come here!" I will promise a fox-gasm!

 

547 GOLDEN ~ Toyokawa Inari

 

Japanese Name: 豊川稲荷
Romanized Reading: Toyokawa Inari
English Translation: Bountiful River Inari
Size: Complex
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 4
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 1 Toyokawacho, Toyokawa, Aichi 442-0033
Coordinates: 34.82447,137.39236

The sixth golden fox place I've encountered during my travels in Japan, and actually a temple, and not a shrine. Kinda. This place exemplifies how closely married Shintoism and Buddhism are in Japan, because this is, in effect, a Buddhist temple worshiping a Shinto deity. Except it's complicated and I'd probably need a degree in Japanese religious studies to fully understand or explain it, but hey...

It's also one of the great ones, second only after Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, right down to the fact that the nearest train station is named after this shrine. In fact, if you read through the archives, you'll notice that I've already encountered quite a bunch of branch shrines of this one. Also, there was this one poster that I saw back in Kagoshima, but unfortunately I photographed it in such a way that the name of this place was illegible. Imagine my glee when I just randomly ran into it today, resolving that mystery.

Anyway, the main temple only features four large bronze foxes, but there is many more to be found on the extensive temple grounds, which by the way are laid out like this:

 

 

546 ~ Shinkouji Side Shrine

Japanese Name: ?
Romanized Reading: ?
English Translation: ?
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Shinkouji
Deity: ?
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 16-Jan-2019
Location: Toyokawa
Address: 〒442-0046 Aichi-ken, Toyokawa-shi, Saiwaichō, 89
Coordinates: 34.82412,137.38725

The first fox shrine that I should find on my epic stray from Toyokawa to Toyohashi, and also the first humble fox shrine I should find in Toyokawa. This one is a side shrine of Shinkouji (真光寺 "True Light Temple"), and is located on an elongated stretch of land behind the temple (which is still in the middle of the city though). You need to walk for about 40m to get to this shrine from the temple. I wonder why it's so far away. It's not like there's anything else on that land.

One reason I could imagine is that this shrine is tied to the tree beneath which it stands, and that it came to be associated with the nearby temple. And then, when the land was developed, all the land between the shrine and the temple was considered part of the temple grounds. But all that is only my guess.

Anyway, two tiny foxes watch over this shrine, and they're not the usual porcelain pair. Instead, one is a typical white porcelain fox, and the other is a white stone or clay fox, that is a little bit bigger (but still tiny).

 

545 ~ Oogi Inari Daimyoujin

 

Japanese Name: 王禾稲荷大明神
Romanized Reading: Oogi Inari Daimyoujin
English Translation: King Tree Inari Great Radiant Deity
Size: Small Side Shrine of Susanoo Jinja
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 12-Jan-2019
Location: Toyohashi
Address: 26 Muroonishicho, Toyohashi, Aichi 441-8089
Coordinates: 34.75178,137.35365

The first fox shrine that I should find in the Toyokawa/Toyohashi area. This one is located at the outskirts of Toyohashi, and I come across it in the evening after walking back to the station from the JMoF (Japan Meeting of Furries), which is what brought me here in the first place.

A side shrine of Susanoo Jinja (素盞鳴神社 "Naked Sake Cup Chirp Shrine"), two tiny porcelain foxes reside within.