![]() In addition to rice, Inari is also associated with tea, an important staple of Japanese society for at least the last thousand years, which places her at the center of some of Japan’s most well-known customs. A popular rice ball, called Inarizushi, is named for Inari. This extends to the products made from crops, such as sake, the Japanese alcohol produced from fermented rice. In this context, people view Inari as a female goddess whose blessings bring prosperity to the year‘s harvest. The most common association with Inari is their relationship to agriculture, and especially to rice. This continues into the modern period, with many companies giving prominence to Inari the Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido, founded nearly 150 years ago and one of the oldest beauty companies in the world, counts Inari as their patron deity. This prosperity applies in equal parts to agriculture and to industry, given the importance of Inari to craftsmen and smiths during the Edo period (1600-1868), for during this period smiths became an important part of Japanese industry and the culture of samurai. Inari is the god of prosperity and success, resulting in a universal appeal that helps explain Inari’s popularity across Japan. For example, in Shingon Buddhism, the concept of the divine feminine, daikiniten, is connected to the power of foxes and thus to Inari, giving her additional powers from Buddhism-such as purifying light-she lacks in traditional Shinto depictions. ![]() Similarly, Inari’s vast identity has allowed people of different faiths and practices to embrace the deity, including Buddhists, who connected Inari with different sects and bodhisattva. This helps explain why people have viewed Inari variously as male, female, and androgynous. In recent centuries, these changes have been largely shaped by new definitions of “success” that stem from the Meiji era (1868–1912) and the rise of capitalism throughout the early 20th century.īecause Inari became prominent in pre-modern Japan when beliefs weren’t uniform, worshipers came to view the deity differently in different contexts. Over the centuries, as Japanese society has changed and evolved its priorities, Inari has changed alongside the culture to take on new roles. This is largely because Inari’s many attributes have given the deity great significance to Japanese society and helped Inari stand the test of time. Inari is an incredibly popular deity who has more shrines dedicated to them than any other kami in Japan a third of all shrines in the country are Inari shrines. Another name is Ta-no-Kami (田の神), or “God of the Paddy Fields.” When referenced in a Buddhist context, Inari may be associated with a particular person on the path toward enlightenment (known as a bodhisattva), in which case Inari may take on secondary names related to that bodhisattva. Inari, a shortened form of Ine Nari or Ine ni Naru, is derived from the Kanji 稲荷, with 稲 representing “rice” and 荷 representing “cargo,” “freight,” or “to carry.” Inari’s full name is Inari Okami, or 稲荷大神, which can be translated as “the Great God Inari.” This is sometimes shortened to O-Inari, or 大稲荷.
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