Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin

photo by Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0

photo by Guilhem Vellut · CC BY 2.0

Hundreds of fox statues on a small hill; free entry, open from dawn.

On the small hill inside the grounds, hundreds of fox statues (messengers of the deity Dakiniten) stand beside rows of red votive lanterns, in a compact space that also holds the circuit of the Seven Gods of Fortune. On weekdays the temple is quiet; on festival days, New Year above all, the crowds make the full circuit difficult.

The only direct branch of Aichi's Toyokawa Inari, the temple was founded in 1828 in the residence of the magistrate Ōoka Tadasuke (the same man to whom the September festival is dedicated) and moved to its present site in 1887. It is a Buddhist temple of the Sōtō school of Zen, although the name suggests a Shinto shrine: the dual nature, Buddhist in form but with the worship of a deity in the shape of a fox, is common to all the Toyokawa Inari in Japan.

ℹ️ ⚠️ Three different opening times found on as many pages of the same official site, never resolved: 5:00–20:00, 5:30–20:00 or 6:00–20:00 depending on the page. The office (for goshuin and amulets) is open 8:30–16:00. Free entry. No weekly closing day. Walking access from the nearest station not found in an open source in this session.

🚉 Akasaka-mitsuke · 9 min walk

Sources: toyokawainari-tokyo.jp · ja.wikipedia.org

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