22 Mar 2014

Toyokawa Inari Temple, Akasaka

Buddhist temple with a Shinto flair

Oleh Larry Knipfing

Community writer

The foxes and red torii gate are remnants of days gone by when this temple was a shrine

Beautiful entrance to Toyokawa Inari Temple, Akasaka

Red lanterns adorning the outside wall of the temple

Woman in kimono reading the omikuji fortune that she purchased from the wooden rack behind her

Approach to the temple, flanked by two guardian fox statues

Buddhist stature surrounded by prayer banners donated by temple members

This fox is holding a sacred scroll in its mouth

View of the temple and the tall buildings of modern Akasaka-Mitsuke, seen through an incense stick receptacle

Red lanterns and early-blooming cherry blossoms

It was a beautiful day (mid-March) that featured great lighting, a deep blue sky, and pretty pink sakura

At the onset of the Meiji Restoration (1867) , when Japan had finally opened her doors to the West hoping to modernize, the government ruled that all temples and shrines that had previously shared the same space, should now be separated. Toyokawa Inari Temple is a perfect example of how that proclamation was resisted. Although this is a temple, there are remnants of shine influences everywhere you look. Statures of sacred foxes (which can be found in abundance at shrines all over Japan) dominate the grounds, and here and there, there are also shrine torii (Shinto gates) that you will see. Its head temple is located in Aichi Prefecture. These photos were taken in mid-March. Follow these links to the other photo stories in the series.