Sasuke Inari Shrine

Sasuke Inari Shrine, located in Sasuke, Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture, is an Inari shrine on the western edge of medieval Kamakura. It stands at the head of the Sasuke valley, with vermilion torii lining the approach. Adjacent stands Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku Shrine in the same valley. The principal deity is Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami, following the configuration of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto. The upper book of the Kojiki records Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami as the child of Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Kamuoichi-hime, and the shrine continues the lineage of agricultural and commercial Inari devotion. Various attendant deities are enshrined in the subordinate halls. According to tradition, in 1180 the exiled Minamoto no Yoritomo received a dream visitation from an Inari deity in the form of an old man who urged him to raise an army, and after the suppression of the Taira, Yoritomo restored the shrine at this site. From the medieval period it served as a local Inari shrine of Kamakura, and from the early modern era it was venerated by merchant families. The first horse festival in February is the chief annual rite.