Qualla: Takekoma Inari Shrine

Takekoma Inari Shrine: Introduction

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kumamushi, CC BY 3.0. Fox statues with knowing expressions line the stone paths, their carved eyes watching visitors approach through a canopy of cedar. Each one wears a different face -- serene, mischievous, fierce, contemplative -- and locals call them okitsunesama, the messengers. They have been standing watch here since 842 AD, when a nobleman named Ono no Takamura arrived in the remote northern province of Oshu and established a branch of the great Fushimi Inari Shrine of Kyoto. Nearly twelve centuries later, Takekoma Inari Shrine in Iwanuma, Miyagi Prefecture, remains one of Japan's three great Inari shrines -- and claims to be the second oldest of the more than 30,000 Inari shrines scattered across the country.

Read more: Takekoma Inari Shrine on Qualla

Image: Kumamushi | CC BY 3.0

Takekoma Inari Shrine: Messengers of the Rice God

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bachstelze, CC BY-SA 3.0. Inari is the Shinto kami of rice, fertility, tea, sake, and industry -- a deity so popular that roughly one-third of all registered shrines in Japan are dedicated to this single divine figure. At Takekoma, the primary enshrined kami is traditionally identified with Inari and asso...

Read more: Takekoma Inari Shrine on Qualla

Image: Bachstelze | CC BY-SA 3.0

Takekoma Inari Shrine: Twelve Centuries Under Patronage

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bachstelze, CC BY-SA 3.0. The shrine's origin story reaches back to the early Heian period. Ono no Takamura, serving as kokushi -- provincial governor -- of Oshu, reportedly founded Takekoma in 842 AD as a branch of Kyoto's Fushimi Inari, the oldest and grandest of all Inari shrines. The Heian-period poet...

Read more: Takekoma Inari Shrine on Qualla

Image: Bachstelze | CC BY-SA 3.0

Takekoma Inari Shrine: Fire, Renewal, and a Wooden Gate

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bachstelze, CC BY-SA 3.0. The shrine's main hall, the Honden, was a structure built by Date Yoshimura, the fifth daimyo of Sendai Domain. It stood for centuries until November 21, 1990, when fire consumed it entirely. The rebuilding took four years, and the new Honden was completed in 1994 -- a reminder t...

Read more: Takekoma Inari Shrine on Qualla

Image: Bachstelze | CC BY-SA 3.0

Takekoma Inari Shrine: The Festival of the First Horse

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. Every year, approximately 1.6 million visitors pass through Takekoma's gates, but the shrine pulses with its greatest energy during the Hatsuuma Grand Festival. Held for seven days beginning on the first horse day of the second month of the traditional lunisolar calendar -- typic...

Read more: Takekoma Inari Shrine on Qualla

Image: Public domain