Also called fox spirit, Inari fox, byakko, o-kitsune-san
Kitsune is Japanese for fox, and in folklore the fox is a clever, shape-shifting spirit that grows more tails with age. In Shinto, white foxes serve as messengers of Inari, the kami of rice, harvest and business, which is why fox statues guard Inari shrines and why fried tofu, the fox's favorite food, is offered there.
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Take care: Inari worship is a living Shinto practice, so act as a respectful guest: follow shrine signs, do not climb on statues or torii, ask before photographing worshippers, and do not leave food where the shrine forbids it. Do not imitate fox possession (kitsunetsuki), which carried real stigma for families accused of keeping foxes.
Businesses and families give torii gates to Fushimi Inari in thanks for prosperity or in hope of it, with the donor's name and date painted on the back. Thousands now line the paths up Mount Inari, including the double row called Senbon Torii.
Uses: donated torii gate
The earliest Japanese fox-wife story, in the Buddhist tale collection Nihon ryoiki, tells of a man who marries a woman who is secretly a fox and keeps returning to him. Later stories include the nine-tailed Tamamo-no-mae and Kuzunoha, the fox mother of the diviner Abe no Seimei.
Shops and homes often keep a small Inari shrine on a high shelf or on the roof, with a pair of ceramic foxes, and make daily offerings of rice, salt, water and sake. Some people relate to Inari mainly through the fox, others hardly notice the fox at all.
Uses: small shrine, ceramic foxes, rice, salt, water, sake
Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, the head of all Inari shrines, traces its founding to 711 CE and the Hata clan, immigrants from the Korean Peninsula. Its origin legend tells how Hata no Irogu shot an arrow at a rice cake, which became a white bird and flew to the peak of Mount Inari, where rice then grew. Inari began as the kami of rice and agriculture and became the patron of merchants. Through division and re-enshrinement, as many as 32,000 Inari shrines exist across Japan.
Foxes appear as omens in the Nihon Shoki of 720, and the fox-wife tale appears in the Nihon ryoiki. In time, white foxes came to be seen as Inari's messengers, guarding shrines and carrying prayers. The belief that the deity and its foxes favor fried tofu is why noodles topped with aburaage are called kitsune udon and why tofu pouches stuffed with rice are called inarizushi. Karen Smyers' study The Fox and the Jewel explores how varied Inari worship remains.
Small brocade pouches sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan, each holding a blessed paper or wood slip for a specific kind of protection or luck. You carry one unopened for about a year, then return it to be burned with thanks.
East Asian belief that destined partners are tied by an invisible red thread, honored in Japan by en-musubi prayers for good bonds at Izumo Taisha and in Chinese communities through the matchmaker god Yue Lao. This entry gives an open home practice inspired by both.
A shop or small business blessing drawn from hoodoo customer-drawing floor washes and from old first-sale customs: wash the entry, bless the first money of the day, and keep a beckoning charm near the door. It works best alongside good service and honest prices.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
