1 ~ Kurofune Inari Jinja

Japanese Name: 黒船稲荷神社
English Reading: Kurofune Inari Jinja
English Translation: Black Ship Inari Shrine
Size: Small
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 4 (2 outside, 2 inside)
First Visit: 10-Feb-2018
Location: Tokyo-Koto
Address: 1 Chome-12-9 Botan, Koto City, Tokyo 135-0046, Japan

The very first Inari Shrine I found in Japan, and thus a very special one that will always hold a special place in my heart. This one is located in a small back road on a lot that is surrounded by houses on three sides.

And since this is the very first Inari Shrine, let me also give you a bit of exposition on Inari: Inari is the Shinto deity of rice, prosperity and fertility, and one of the most widely venerated deities in all of Japan. In fact, on my travels through Japan I have found significantly more Inari Shrines than shrines dedicated to any other deity, which is also probably owed to the fact that a lot of other shrines feature at least one Inari side shrine. But there's also a good number of small standalone Inari Shrines such as this one.

As for the name "Kurofune" ("Black Ships"), that one might refer to the infamous black ships of the Americans that put an end to the Shakoku period of Japanese isolation in 1868. So maybe this was a spot from which the black ships could be seen back then. Considering that a lot of Koto is reclaimed land, that is not entirely unlikely. In fact, since there are not very many shrines on the reclaimed land, you can trace the former coastline by mapping where the shrines stop.