Snake 2 ~ Shirohebi Daimyoujin

 

Japanese Name:  蛇白大明神
Romanized Reading: Shirohebi Daimyoujin
English Translation: White Snake Great Radiant Deity
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Uramori Inari Jinja
Deity: Inari
Snake Count: 7
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 3 Chome-27-8 Ōmoriminami, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 143-0013

Another side shrine of Uramori Inari Jinja, but this one features snakes instead of foxes. Old-time allies in the fight against vermin, snakes are also sometimes seen as guardians in Inari-shrines such as this one. Despite not having "Inari" in its name, the Inari-emblem on the cloth above this shrine still identifies it as such. A total of seven snakes watch over this shrine: One big stone snake curled up in the shape of a hoju-no-tama, two tiny curled-up porcelain snakes, and another two tiny pairs of porcelain snakes curled up around one another with a golden hoju-no-tama in the middle, with one snake of each pair carrying a golden scroll of teachings in its mouth.
 

133 ~ Uramori Inari Massha

 

Japanese Name:  浦守稲荷末社
Romanized Reading: Uramori Inari Massha
English Translation: Bay Protector Inari Subordinate Shrine
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Uramori Inari Jinja
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 8
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 3 Chome-27-8 Ōmoriminami, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 143-0013

A tiny foxy side shrine of aforementioned Uramori Inari Jinja, featuring another three pairs of life-sized caged stone foxes, as well as one pair of tiny white porcelain foxes.

132 ~ Uramori Inari Jinja (Wood Cutouts)

 

Japanese Name:  浦守稲荷神社
Romanized Reading: Uramori Inari Jinja
English Translation: Bay Protector Inari Shrine
Size: Medium
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 5
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 3 Chome-27-8 Ōmoriminami, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 143-0013

One of the bigger fox shrines that I should visit today, this one even features not one, but two notable side shrines. I am close to calling it a Bronze Fox Shrine, but since it only features 13 foxes alltogether, I feel it's not quite there. Two of the foxes here are, in fact, negative foxes: They come in the form of cutouts in the shrine's front doors, so I wonder if I should count them negative too? If so, this shrine only features the fox kit of the right of the two life-sized stone-foxes in front, which incidentally also brings the vixen side count to 8:26.

131 ~ Kifune Inari Jinja

 

Japanese Name:  貴船稲荷神社
Romanized Reading: Kifune Inari Jinja
English Translation: Precious Ship Inari Shrine
Size: Small Side Shrine of Kifune Jinja
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 5
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 3 Chome-9-19 Omorihigashi, Ota City, Tokyo 143-0012

A foxy side shrine of Kifune Jinja (貴船神社 "Precious Ship Shrine"). There's a pair of small stone foxes sitting inside, and another caged pair of life-sized ones keeping watch in cages outside. The one on the right features a kit, thus bringing the vixen side count to 8:25.
 

130 ~ Oumori Inari Jinja

 

Japanese Name:  王森稲荷神社
Romanized Reading: Oumori Inari Jinja
English Translation: King Forest Inari Shrine
Size: Small
Deity: Inari
Fox Count: 2
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Coordinates: 35.5765429,139.7353459

A small fox shrine located on one side of a city block, yet also has a walkway that extends across a car park to the other side of the block, thus resulting in that curious sight where it seems like cars are waiting in line for the shrine. A pair of life-sized caged fox stone statues watches over this shrine.
 

129 ~ Nakamura Koutai

 

Japanese Name:  中村光碓?
Romanized Reading: Nakamura Koutai?
English Translation: Middle Town Light Pestle?
Size: Tiny Side Shrine of Oomori Jinja
Deity: Inari?
Fox Count: 3
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 6 Chome-32-12 Omorikita, 大田区 Ota City, Tokyo 143-0016

A tiny foxy side shrine of Oomori Jinja (大森神社 "Great Forest Shrine"), which ironically is located in the middle of the city, with only a handful of trees on the shrine grounds. I am actually not 100% sure about the last Kanji in this shrine's name, since it is painted on a piece of cloth with a stroke width so big that the lines of the Kanji blur together. Anyway inside the tiny shrine, there's a pair of tiny porcelain foxes, with a third even smaller porcelain fox in their middle.
 

128 ~ Kasajima Benzaiten (Fox Carvings)

 

Japanese Name:  笠島弁財天
Romanized Reading: Kasajima Benzaiten
English Translation: Bamboo Hat Island Benzaiten
Size: Small Side Shrine of Iwai Jinja
Deity: Benzaiten
Fox Count: 3 (carvings)
First Visit: 26-Apr-2018
Location: Tokyo-Ota
Address: 2 Chome-20-8 Ōmorikita, Ōta-ku, Tōkyō-to 143-0016

Another foxy side shrine of Iwai Jinja. This one is located on a small island in a small pond. For once, it is not an Inari shrine, but rather a shrine dedicated to Benzaiten, goddess of music, knowledge and everything that flows. Benzaiten is also one of the Shichifukujin (七福神 "Seven Fortune Gods"), the seven lucky gods of Buddhism. And yet, there's Shinto shrines dedicated to her and others of the Shichifukujin, which just goes to show how tightly interwoven Shinto and Buddhist fate are in Japan.

Anyway, there's no fox statues here, but a carving of a pair of foxes with a kit adorns the shrine just above the altar. Or at least it did back when I visited it in 2018, because recent images show a new and refurbished version of the shrine which sadly lacks the fox carving.