Akasaka Toyokawa Inari Temple

Early flowering cherry blossoms and attendant foxes

Tomoko Kamishima Mar 19, 2014 - 1 min read

<p>Foxes on the octagonal stone stage</p>

<p>Stone statue at the inner precinct</p>

<p>Each fox has its own unique expression</p>

<p>Early cherry blossoms in full bloom</p>

An early flowering cherry blossom, the Edo-higan (江戸彼岸), is in full bloom at Akasaka’s Toyokawa Inari today! Birds were playing around the pink flowers delightfully. This tree usually blooms around o-higan (March 21) in Tokyo. The enshrined deity here rides on a white fox, and followers of the temple believe that foxes are attendants of the deity. After the wishes of believers are fulfilled, they offer fox statues to the temple. There are large numbers of fox statues all around the precincts.

Tomoko Kamishima @tomoko.kamishima

Japan is a small island nation, but we have a huge number of surprising things to discover here. Many of these delights can be found when you step off the main street onto small side paths. I really enjoy studying about and researching various aspects of traditional Japanese culture, and then sha...