The eight vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the first one located in the area of Kobogataki (弘法ヶ滝 "Vast Law Waterfall"). This is where things start getting out of hand. Up until now, shrines had at most a few dozen vulpine side shrines. This one? This area alone? I counted 56. That's fifty-six! Almost five dozen fox shrines on the area of half a basketball court! Sitting tight by tight, to the point where I'm not even sure I counted correctly anymore. And that is only the first of several fox shrine superclusters that I should come across!
Since there's so many fox shrines on such a small space in here, I didn't record the precise locations of each one. However, the Kobogataki supercluster can be roughly divided into four quadrants, and since each quadrant is only about the size of a classroom, it should be possible to find the shrines within that. Right now, I am are in the western area, which is also where the entrance from the forest path that I have followed here is located.
Besides, see the little Torii in front of the Shrine? You can buy one of them at an affordable price, and then place it as an offering on your favorite of the several hundred shrines up here on the mountain.
Also, if you've ever seen photos of someone standing in a seemingly endless tunnel of Torii, this is where this was taken. The way up from the main shrine leads you through that famous tunnel of Torii. But it doesn't end here. While the way here takes you through the densest tunnel, there's thousands of Torii standing all over the mountain, each barely a meter apart from the next. From here on out, you can hike all over the mountain on a 3km round course without ever being too far from a Torii.
The third vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, located directly to the left of Okumiya, and the last one in the inner compound. If I read the plaque right, this shrine enshrine Myaobusome-no-Kami (命婦専女神 "High-ranking-court-lady special goddess"), which is one of the incarnations of Inari. True to its name, a pair of life-sized stone Byakko reside in this shrine.
The second vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha, and the inner sanctuary, according to its name. A pair of life-sized stone foxes sits at the bottom of the stairs leading up to it, with a second pair at the top. A third pair then resides within the shrine itself, and is painted white.
Again, this shrine and the nearby Byakkosha have their own website here.
The first vulpine side shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha. It is located in what I consider the main compound, behind the main shrine and up a flight of stairs at the side of the hill. A pair of life-sized stone foxes reside within this shrine.
And since Fushimi Inari Taisha is one of these big shrines, it even has a website dedicated specifically to this and other nearby side shrines.
This is it! The Great One (巨稲荷一)! This is where Inari worship began in Japan and spread all over the land, and with it, the foxes. This is an iconic pilgrimage site, and one of the major attractions of Kyoto, to the point that not one but two nearby train stations are named after it (Inari and Fushimi Inari). The Inari station of the JR Nara Line is the closer one, depositing you right outside of the 200m approach to the shrine, with a large black (probably metal) fox right across the road.
The main shrine is then flanked by two pairs of large black metal foxes. The right one of the outside pair is explicitly male, which makes this the first pair in a long time where the gender of the foxes is explicitly or implicitly defined. In fact, the last one was Kikuya Inari Jinja in Nagano. This brings the vixen side count to 10:33, which is interesting, because you'd think that most shrines would follow the way that Fushimi Inari Taisha has it, with the male on the right and the female on the left. But clearly, most have it the other way around.
One of the most iconic parts of this shrine are the Torii tunnels. Plural, because there's a lot of them. And not just a lot lot, but a LOT lot. They're literally all over the mountain, coming in sizes from "Small enough to put in front of a tiny shrine" over "just the right size to comfortably walk through unless you're really tall" and going all the way to "mega-freaking HUGE".
This is a side shrine of Toufuku-ji (東福寺 "East Fortune Temple"), one of Kyotos several big temple complexes. A pair of life-sized stone foxes watch over this one. It's probably an Inari shrine, but I can't be sure.
This is just a marker post. All shrines before this post are in Okayama, and all shrines after this are in Kyoto.
Japanese Name: 森崎稲荷
Romanized Reading: Morisaki Inari
English Translation: Forest Cape Inari
Size: Small
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 20-Dec-2018
Location: Okayama
Address: 3, Kita Ward, Okayama, 700-0831
Coordinates: 34.65907,133.93264
Japanese Names: 稲荷社, 道通社
Romanized Readings: Inarisha, Doutsuusha
English Translations: Inari Shrine, Road Traffic Shrine
Size: Tiny
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2 (+Lanterns)
First Visit: 20-Dec-2018
Location: Okayama
Address: 2 Chome-3-40 Omotecho, Kita Ward, Okayama, 700-0822
Coordinates: 34.66096,133.93032
Japanese Name: 伏見稲荷
Romanized Reading: Fushimi Inari
English Translation: Prostrated Hopes Inari
Size: Small Side Shrine of Okayama Jinja
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 20-Dec-2018
Location: Okayama
Address: 2-33 Ishizekicho, Kita Ward, Okayama, 700-0813
Coordinates: 34.66807,133.93154
Incidentally, I also saw someone getting a blessing for his new car here, in front of Okayama Jinja. There's a driveway so you can drive right up to the shrine from the nearby road, so maybe this is a specialty of this shrine.
Japanese Names: 浄光稲荷, 富吉稲荷
Romanized Readings: Joukou Inari, Tomiyoshi Inari
English Translations: Pure Light Inari, Wealth and Luck Inari
Size: Tiny
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 4 (+2 on Lanterns)
First Visit: 20-Dec-2018
Location: Okayama
Address: 1-7 Banzanchō, Kita Ward, Okayama, 700-0818
Coordinates: 34.66623,133.92667
Anyway, at the time of my visiting this one featured four tiny porcelain foxes, as well as two fox lanterns, which is the first time I saw those.
Japanese Name : ？？？？大神 Romanized Reading : ???? Ookami English Translation : ???? Great Deity Size : Tiny side shrine of Kobogataki within...
