Inari Ōkami

Inari features in legendary narratives as a divine giver of grain during times of famine: traditional accounts describe Inari as descending from Heaven riding a white fox and carrying sheaves of cereal or grain. Sources present this descent as a mythic, legendary motif connecting Inari to the origin-era provision of food and abundance rather than a literal historical event. The cult of Inari is historically attested in early records (the present-day kanji first recorded in AD 892) and shrine foundations associated with Inari date back in tradition to the early centuries of Japanese shrine history.

Depictions and descriptions of Inari vary. Popular representations include a young female food megami and an old man carrying grains of rice; Inari has been portrayed as female, male, or left unspecified. Inari is closely associated with white foxes (kitsune) which act as messengers; folktales and narrative traditions also report occasional manifestations or disguises in forms such as snake, dragon, or (in some tales) a monstrous spider used in didactic episodes. Common symbolic attributes connected to Inari and its foxes include sheaves or sacks of rice, sickles, swords, scrolls, and wish-fulfilling jewels in narrative contexts.

Sources describe Inari as the patron and protector of rice, fertility, food, agriculture, and related prosperity; worshippers seek Inari's favor for crop success and worldly prosperity. Over time Inari's patronage broadened to include swordsmiths, merchants, entertainers, and various crafts and industries. Inari is served by or associated with white fox messengers (kitsune) in popular belief; narrative materials record shapeshifting and revelatory appearances in different guises, and Inari is syncretically identified with other deities (e.g., Dakiniten, Benzaiten, and food deities such as Uka-no-Mitama) in different historical and local contexts. Sources also attribute various symbolic items (gems, scrolls) to Inari's narrative tradition.