Japanese Name: 黒髪山稲荷神社
Romanized Reading: Kurokamiyama Inari Jinja
English Translation: Black Hair Mountain Inari Shrine
Size: Small
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 12
First Visit: 11-Sep-2023
Location: Nara
Address: Narazakacho, Nara, 630-8104
Coordinates: 34.70177,135.82589
A pair of life sized stone foxes reside within, the left one of which has a kit, thus bringing the vixen side count to 21:44. They are attended by nine small-to-tiny porcelain foxes .
The first fox shrine that I should find after my return to Japan in 2023. It's a rainy day, but that doesn't stop me from dragging my friends to whom I'm playing tour guide this time around on a hunt for fox shrines and geocaches alike.
This one features a pair of life-sized caged stone foxes, along with (at least) 16 tiny porcelain foxes. A good start into my second round of fox shrine finding!
Also, starting with this post, I'm uploading the full-sized photos, so feel free to click on them for more detail!
With this, my first visit to Japan draws to a close. I've visited a total of 2508 shrines and temples in this land, 603 of which had foxes. And if you look at where most of those were located, there's a clear bias.
However, that number is limited, and my next trip to Japan is not yet planned. As such, from here on out I am going to reduce the rate at which I publish new posts on this blog. In fact, you've probably noticed that I've been gradually slowing down my publication rate these last two months already.
I'll take a bit of a break now since I'm going to the Thalhäusl again (see the Travelling Fox Blog Book V ~ Chapter 18 ~ Thalhäusl the Third for example). Then, starting sometime next month, I'm aiming at making two updates per week - probably on Wednesday and Saturday. Hopefully, that will let me stretch out my backlog of shrines long to make it to my next Japan trip, because I can hear the land of foxes calling out to me again...
Anyway, long story made short: There'll be a bit of a break now, and then new shrine posts will be coming at a slower rate.
So stay tuned, and be of great cheer! =^,^=
This includes:
The two dolls flanking the shrine are souvenirs that my grandmother brought with her from Japan a long time ago. As far as I know, she was also the only other member of my family to ever have visited Japan.
With this, I'll always have a little connection to the land I travelled for a year and its many fox shrines. Its name reflects that. As for its reading, I was gonna go for "Ryoko", but every Japanese who saw the Kanji 旅狐 on my business card read it as "Tabigitsune", so I'll go with that instead.
The final fox shrine that I should find on my first visit to Japan. This one is a side shrine of Ooshima Hachiman Jinja (大島八幡神社 "Ooshima Hachiman Shrine"). It's a good ending, with two caged life-sized stone foxes in front, and eight small-to-tiny porcelain foxes inside the shrine.
Fitting for an ending, this is also the southernmost fox shrine that I visited in the Radiant Metropolis (though I'm sure there are many more just waiting to be found).
Japanese Name: 汐留稲荷神社
Romanized Reading: Shiodome Inari Jinja
English Translation: Eventide Halting Inari Shrine
Size: Medium
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 2-Feb-2019
Location: Kawasaki
Address: 2 Chome-24-21 Ikegamishinchō, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa-ken 210-0832
Coordinates: 35.52489,139.73190
The final fox shrine that I should find on this day, while it was already getting dark. A pair of caged life-sized stone foxes watch over this one.
At this point, we're nearing the end of my first stay in Japan, but I should still find one more fox shrine on my final stray the next day.
Japanese Name : 黒髪山稲荷神社 Romanized Reading : Kurokamiyama Inari Jinja English Translation ...
