Yutoku Inari Shrine

Yutoku Inari Shrine (Yutoku Inari-jinja) is located in Furueda, Kashima City, Saga Prefecture, and is counted among Japan's three great Inari shrines together with Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kasama Inari Shrine. The principal deity is Uka-no-Mitama-no-Okami, recorded in Kojiki (712 CE, upper volume) as a child of Izanami and a deity of the five grains and food. Omiya-no-Me-no-Okami and Sarutahiko-no-Okami are enshrined alongside her, following the traditional Inari triad. Sarutahiko appears in Kojiki, upper volume, Tenson Korin section, as the deity who guided the heavenly grandchild Ninigi to earth. The shrine was founded in Jokyo 4 (1687) when Manko-hime, consort of Kashima domain lord Nabeshima Naotomo, invited the spirit of Inari from Fushimi. The original buildings of Kyoho 2 (1717) burned in 1949 and the present lacquer-coated complex, built into the western slope of Mount Yutoku in suspended (kake-zukuri) style, was rebuilt in 1957. Principal festivals include the first-horse-day Hatsu-Uma-sai, the spring festival on April 27-28, and the year-end market on December 7-8.