Additionally, this shrine is home to Fukurokuju, one of the Shichifukujin. If I understand it correctly, these are scattered around this area.
The final bronze fox shrine that I should find during my first trip to Japan. This one is a side shrine of Nitta Jinja (新田神社 "New Field Shrine"), which is located just down the road from the previous shrine. A pair of life-sized stone foxes sits watch in front of the shrine, another eight ten stone foxes are right in front of the shrine, and then there's many tiny porcelain foxes of two distinct designs.
The tiny ones sitting in the baskets are actually fortune foxes. They hold a little fortune slip in their insides that you can pull out from the bottom, and apparently, people then place them in front of the shrine.
Anyway, there's at least three tiny porcelain foxes inside this little shrine, two of which are gilded. There might be a fourth one hiding behind the leaves to the left, but we can't be sure.
It goes without saying that I should not let it end this close to the psychologically important milestone mark, and so I embark on an epic stray around Kawasaki and southern Tokyo to find a few more fox shrines.
This is the first one that I should find on that tour. Hidden between tall apartment blocks, it is watched over by two life-sized stone foxes, and a pair of tiny porcelain foxes reside within.
This is actually not the first shrine featuring foxes, but since the last one (The Suehiro Ookami Cluster in Kyoto) also featured many foxes, it did not get marked explicitly as a FROG shrine. So this is officially the first pure frog shrine that I came across.
The 14th and final vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin.This one is further to the back, and features a pair of life-sized stone foxes in front. And inside, there are I think four small stone foxes, 17 tiny white ones, as well as 2 tiny gilded porcelain foxes. I say "I think" because the picture from inside that I took was pretty dark, and even brightened up to the max there was only so much detail I could tell apart. Either way, definitely a lot of foxes here!
From what I could translate from the plaque at the side, I think that praying here is supposed to bring you wealth.
Anyway, four life-sized stone foxes sit in front of this shrine, and one of the two to the right has a little fox kit, thus bringing the vixen side count to 19:42.
Anyway, a total of twelve life-sized stone foxes congregate on this shrine. At least one of those on the right has a little kit, thus bringing the vixen side count to 19:41. I say "at least" because the long red bibs of the foxes here might hide more foxes. As it is, I can just barely see the paws and head of that one fox kit peeking out from beneath its mother's bib.
The eight vulpine side shrine of Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin, and the one responsible for the very background image of this blog. The approach to this shrine is flanked by dozens of stone foxes ranging from small to life-sized. Three of those on the right bear kits, thus bringing the vixen side count to 19:39.
And if the foxes on the approach to the shrine aren't enough for you, don't worry, there's several more foxes of various sizes inside the shrine, along with about a dozen snakes.
The deity here is another "incarnation" of Inari: Ugajin (宇賀神 "Eaves Joy God"), who is typically considered the Shinto equivalent of the Hindu goddess Saraswati (although Benzaiten is also considered to be her equivalent. Shinto faith is complicated).
Japanese Name: 豊川吃枳尼真天
Romanized Reading: Toyokawa Dakini Shinten
English Translation: Bountiful River Dakini Deva
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin
Deity: Dakini
Fox Count: 7
First Visit: 31-Jan-2019
Location: Tokyo-Minato
Address: 1 Chome-4-7 Motoakasaka, Minato City, Tokyo 107-0051
Coordinates: 35.6764 139.7325
Anyway, a total of seven life-sized stone foxes watch over this shrine. One of the right ones has a kit, thus bringing the vixen side count to 19:36.
Japanese Name : 矢口中稲荷神社 Romanized Reading : Yaguchi Naka Inari Jinja English Translation : Arrow Mouth Middle Inari Shrine Size: Small ...
