152 ~ Murasaki Jinja

 

Japanese Name:  紫神社
Romanized Reading: Murasaki Jinja
English Translation: Purple Shrine
Size: Small
Deity: Inari?
Fox Count: 2 (+variable number of live foxes)
First Visit: 15-May-2018
Location: Ishinomaki
Address: 5-28 Mangokuchō, Ishinomaki, Miyagi 986-2115

The first fox shrine that we should find in Ishinomaki (石巻 "Stone Scroll"). This one is located in Mangokucho (万石町 "Thousand Stones Town"), which is one of the neighborhoods that was completely wiped out by the tsunami of 2011 (which also related to the Fukushima incident), and it still shows today. There's lots of open space here, and most of the buildings are both cheap and new, as is the shrine. No traditional huge shrine grounds, just a little shed on a bed of gravel, with a trio of tiny porcelain foxes inside. The foxes are the only indication that I have that this might be an Inari Shrine.