Stone Buddha Statue watching over the cemetery of broken jizo statues in the old well (in the back) (Photo: Takako Sakamoto)

Fox Shrine Inside Taicho-ji Temple

Inari Shrine and a cemetery of broken jizo statues

Takako Sakamoto   - 1分鐘閱讀時間

When I visited Taicho-ji Temple in Fukui the other day, I found a small, cute Fox Shrine inside the temple grounds. Strangely, there were no fox statues there, which you'll find in most fox shrines in Japan, and instead, I found a cemetery of jizo statues again here, in an old well. Inside the old, abandoned well, small, moss-covered, broken jizo statues were neatly stored, which somehow mesmerized me. Later, when I called the temple to ask questions, I learned that this Fox Shrine was built by the previous head priest of the temple, Kushi Teijo ( 久志貞浄 ), after WWII, but the current head priest didn't know why, how, and exactly when it was built. What I can tell is, nothing inside this temple has ever been commercialized or scrutinized, and it has been living within the rich nature of Fukui silently, and will live like this for eternity.

Takako Sakamoto

Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...