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Tōkyō-to, Meguro-ku, Kamimeguro 3-39-14 東京都目黒区上目黒3-39-14 Sept 29, 2022     

烏森稲荷神社

   Karasumori Inari Shrine

Nearest station:  Nakameguro  Lines:  Toyoko/Hibiya

Sacred Tokyo 40 Shinto Shrines

Enshrined Kami:  

Main

Ukanomitama-Mikoto   稲倉魂命

 

​Annual Festival:  3rd Saturday and Sunday of September

This shrine is popularly referred to as Karasumori Inari Jinja, reflecting the pre-modern name of its location.

As with many other Inari Jinja the date when this one was founded is unclear, but there are two accounts of how it came into being. The first is that during the Genryoku Period (1688-1704) a man called Shinzaemon Shinbori (新堀新左衛門) of what was then Shimoumabikizawa Village下(馬引沢村) moved a small shrine where Inari Kami was worshipped from the grounds of a temple called Jufukuji (寿福寺), now located at Kamimeguro 5-16-6, to the shrine’s current location.

The second account is a little more colourful. Without giving any date, it tells us that the Shukuyama Inari support group (Shukuyama was the name of part of Kamimeguro in pre-modern times) was returning from a visit to the Karasumori Jinja in Shimbashi when a white fox either became a horse or a white fox riding a horse appeared to them. Either way a shrine was built to commemorate the event.

 

 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森

Until Meiji times the shrine was regarded as housing the guardian deity of what was then Kamimeguro Village. In 1889 a new municipal system was established. The name of part of Kamimeguro in Meguro Village was officially recognised as Karasumori and the shrine became Karasumori Inari Jinja. Following a revision of the municipal system in 1922 however, the area’s name was changed to Kamimeguro San-chome, the name Karasumori dropped both from the municipality and the shrine. Even so a kindergarten and primary school and other facilities still include Karasumori in their  names.  

Reflecting its relatively well-wooded nature the shrine has been designated a "preserved forest" (保存樹林) by Meguro-ku. The forest is 889 sq.m. in area and consists mostly of Gingko, Zelkova, and Bamboo Leaved Oak Trees.

(Click on images to expand them)

 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
 Inari Jinja 稲荷神社烏森
forest
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