Inari Ōkami
Inari Ōkami is the Japanese kami of foxes, of fertility, rice, tea and sake, of agriculture and industry, of general prosperity and worldly success, and one of the principal kami of Shinto. In earlier Japan, Inari was also the patron of swordsmiths and merchants. Represented as male, female, or androgynous, Inari is sometimes seen as a collective of three or five individual kami.
Inari's foxes, or kitsune, are pure white and act as their messengers.
Inari has been depicted both as male and as female. The most popular representations of Inari are a young female food goddess, an old man carrying rice, and an androgynous bodhisattva. No one view is correct; the preferred gender of depiction varies according to regional traditions and individual beliefs. Because of their close association with kitsune, Inari is often believed to be a fox; though this belief is widespread, both Shinto and Buddhist priests discourage it. Inari also appears in the form of a snake or dragon, and one folktale has Inari appear to a wicked man in the shape of a monstrous spider as a way of teaching him a lesson.
Inari is sometimes identified with other mythological figures. Some scholars suggest that Inari is the figure known in classical Japanese mythology as the Shinto male deity Uka-no-Mitama (or possibly Uke Mochi); others suggest Inari is the same figure as the Shinto female deity, Toyouke. Some take Inari to be identical to any grain kami.
Inari's female aspect is often identified or conflated with Dakiniten, a Buddhist deity who is a Japanese transformation of the Indian dakini, or with Benzaiten of the Seven Lucky Gods. Dakiniten is portrayed as a female or androgynous bodhisattva riding a flying white fox. Inari's association with Buddhism may have begun in the 8th century, when Shingon Buddhist monk and founder, Kūkai, took over administration of the temple of Tōji, and chose Inari as a protector of the temple. Thus, Inari is still closely associated with Shingon Buddhism to this day.
During the Edo period, Inari worship spread across Japan; it became especially prominent in Edo. Inari had by the sixteenth century become the patron of blacksmiths and the protector of warriors—for this reason, many castle compounds in Japan contain Inari shrines—and the daimyōs took their belief in their protector kami with them when they relocated to a new domain. Inari's divine role continued to expand; on the coast, they became a protector of fishermen; in Edo, they were invoked to prevent fires. They became the patron of actors and of prostitutes, since their shrines were often found near the pleasure quarters where these individuals lived. They began to be worshipped as the Desire-Fulfilling Inari, a deity of luck and prosperity; a common saying in Osaka was Byō Kōbō, yoku Inari (For sickness [pray to] Kōbō, for desires [pray to] Inari). Inari also began to be petitioned for good health; they are credited with curing such diverse afflictions as coughs, toothaches, broken bones, and syphilis. Women prayed to Inari to grant them children.