Hotokusan Inari Taisha

Hotokusan Inari Taisha in Nagaoka, Niigata, stands on the Koshiji hills southwest of central Nagaoka. The grounds extend across the hillside in three precincts — the Uchi-miya, Naka-miya and Oku-miya — connected by avenues of red torii. The main deities are Amaterasu Shiragiku Hotoku Inari Okami, Nippon Koho no Okami and Yagokoro Omoikane no Okami. Yagokoro Omoikane is recorded in Kojiki (712 CE) as the wisdom deity who devised the plan to draw Amaterasu from the rock cave. The shrine descends from the Inari cult of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, where Ukanomitama is the principal deity. Shrine tradition places an early founding in the reign of Emperor Sujin, but the present scale was built up from the Showa period onward through devotee donations. The Uchi-miya was completed in 1980. The shrine is independent of Jinja Honcho. The November 2-3 Shinko-sai with tens of thousands of candles is a defining winter rite of central Niigata.