Oct 16, 2014 - 1 min read

Fox Shrine Inside Taicho-ji Temple

Inari Shrine and a cemetery of broken jizo statues

By Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

Stone Buddha Statue watching over the cemetery of broken jizo statues in the old well (in the back)

Small jizo statue praying silently in his cemetery

Brilliant red torii gate stands out in the otherwise plain temple grounds

Old well beside the Fox Shrine used as a cemetery for broken jizo statues

Wooden red lantern standing at the entrance of the small Fox Shrine

Front view of Fox Shrine on the grounds of Taicho-ji Temple

Wooden signage says, 'Fushimi Kisshou Inari Daimyojin', which indicates this shrine is related to Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto

Red torii gate and lantern under the sunshine

There was a stone monument, or a tomb of some kind, beside Fox Shrine

I forgot to ask the head priest what this is!

When I visited Taicho-ji Temple in Fukui the other day, I found a small, cute Fox Shrine inside the temple grounds. Strangely, there were no fox statues there, which you'll find in most fox shrines in Japan, and instead, I found a cemetery of jizo statues again here, in an old well. Inside the old, abandoned well, small, moss-covered, broken jizo statues were neatly stored, which somehow mesmerized me. Later, when I called the temple to ask questions, I learned that this Fox Shrine was built by the previous head priest of the temple, Kushi Teijo ( 久志貞浄 ), after WWII, but the current head priest didn't know why, how, and exactly when it was built. What I can tell is, nothing inside this temple has ever been commercialized or scrutinized, and it has been living within the rich nature of Fukui silently, and will live like this for eternity.